Dark in the Light: Journey's Beginning
by Enduring Light
Summary: The Dark Avatar died at the hands of Korra in Book 2: Spirits. But like the Avatar, like the cycle of the seasons, the Dark Avatar was reborn. Born in the South Pole, Tahni, the next Dark Avatar, was kidnapped by the Red Lotus at a young age. He has escaped them, but not Vaatu, and not himself.
1. Beginnings

Tahni stared out at the night sky as he huddled inside his sleeping bag.

The southern lights were his only comfort that night. The strings of green and blue light seemed to be there solely to console him, like a gift from above. It was good to not see red, black, or stone for once.

The lights could almost make Tahni forget the darkness that stirred inside him.

Vaatu.

Tahni could only hear him when Tahni _wanted_ to hear him. That wasn't often, if ever. It was hard when he was little to block him out. At first, his parents had thought something was wrong with his mind. They tried to keep it private, sending Tahni to healers and such. Nothing worked. Once Tahni revealed the name of the voice inside everyone seemed to even more cautious. Not long after he revealed Vaatu's name, he was kidnapped by men in crimson and black robes. He was little when it happened, perhaps around the mere age of five. As much as Tahni tried, he never could forget the sight of one of the men freezing the water in his father's face to the point of which it shattered into bloodied shards. His mother died at the hands of a firebender, who set her aflame after knocking her unconcious.

The Red Lotus raised him after that.

They kept drilling him for twelve horific years. They taught Tahni to master water, which was the only element he could bend. The Dark Avatar didn't have control of the other three.

Yes, Tahni was the Dark Avatar.

The Red Lotus told him that when Unalaq died, the Dark Avatar was simply reborn, as _him_.

While he couldn't bend fire, earth or air, he was trained to fight with the style of them. He learned the stances of fire, and could fight like a firebender. He could embrace the stances of earth benders. He could dodge and avoid like an airbender.

He didn't know where their compound was until he escaped. It was underground, in solid stone hundreds of feet underground in the same south pole. Tahni still cried at the simple thought of how he escaped.

He had blood bended.

The trainers had taught him everything they could about the vile art, if you could even call it an art.

Tahni only meant to hold them in place with it. But Vaatu lept at the chance to inflict any harm of any kind. Tahni lost control. The caretakers, as the Red Lotus called them, exploded into shards of red ice.

Even now, Tahni's face was covered in cuts from the flying blood crystals.

Once the caretakers were dead, Tahni had all the time he needed to escape. He gathered up a bag full of food and water. He even rolled up a sleeping bag and tied it into place above the backpack. There were no clothes that were warm enough for the cold. After he gathered what he could, he set out on foot.

Tahni still wears his thin black and red tunic. They offer him no warmth.

Despite his horrible conditions, he soon falls asleep in the snow-covered sleeping bag.

* * *

Tahni awakens to a bright blue sky. He shields his eyes from the bright sun for a second. He wasn't used to bright lights. Tahni was raised for most of his life underground. By the position of the sun, he could tell he had slept for almost three-fourths of the day.

After a few minutes his eyes slowly started to adjust.

Tahni's arms were shaking. At first he was afraid something was wrong. A few seconds later Tahni realized he was simply shivering from the cold.

As brutal as the Red Lotus were, they always kept him warm.

Tahni crossed his arms and held them close to his body. He was forced to take them from his shivering chest to aid him as he crawled from his sleeping bag.

How was he going to survive out here?

Tahni had an idea. He started to search the sleeping bag for the threads that held it together. After a few moments he found the stitching, hidden under fur. He bit into the strings, trying to break it. Tahni eventually succeeded.

Why did the Red Lotus caretakers have to be good at sewing?

Tahni slowly, and carefully, started to remove the stitching until the bag was open. Now for sleeves.

Tahni focused on the snow around him, he bent the snow into water, then into a blade of ice. He carefully bent it to stab large enough holes into the unravelled cloth. He stuck his arms into it.

The _coat_ was too long. It even touched the snow-covered ground.

Tahni removed the coat and bent up another ice blade. He cut the lower area off the coat. He then cut the removed area in two.

Tahni searched the ground for the strings he had removed, finding it difficult to find. After a minute of pure searching he found it.

Tahni bent up a little ice shard, and poked some holes into the cloth's edges. He also added some small holes into his coat, around the arm-holes.

He slowly worked with the string to crudely sow the cloth into sleeves. The coat was hidious, but it would have to do. Survival outweighed fashion, the latter Tahni didn't even care about.

The tunic the caretakers had given him had a black hood.

 _Why did the Red Lotus always need hoods on their robes? They lived underground for pete's sake,_ Tahni thought to himself.

He pulled up the black hood, though it did little for his freezing ears.

Tahni froze even more, if that was even possible, as he heard people talking.

The Red Lotus.

Tahni threw on his backpack, and started to walk through the foot-deep snow. He walked as hard as he could.

"Over there! I hear something!" a voice yelled.

 _Darn it_ , Tahni cursed to himself.

The foot steps in the snow grew closer. They were able to move faster than Tahni. Tahni turned around to face his chasers.

They weren't wearing the usual black and red robes. They were wearing blue and white fur coats. They were wearing traditional water tribe clothing.

Tahni let out a soft breath of relief.

"Hello, there. Sorry to startle you. Me and my daughter thought you were an animal," the taller one said.

There was only two of them, only taller then the other.

"It's alright," Tahni replied, trying as best he could to seem calm.

"What are you _wearing?_ " the daughter asked.

Tahni at first was oblivious to what she meant, then realized she meant his _"coat"_.

"My sleeping bag," Tahni replied slowly, understanding how dumb it sounded.

"Okay...?" she commented, as much as a question as it was a statement.

"You lost our here?" the father asked.

Tahni took a moment to think up a lie. It wasn't like he was going to say he was fleeing from a terrorist cult.

"A little," Tahni answered through an awkward smile.

"Anybody with you?" the father asked.

 _Won't stop asking questions, will you?_ Tahni thought to himself, annoyed but not showing it.

"I lost my group," Tahni lied.

The father thought for a moment.

"Well me and my daughter, Vanta, were hunting, but we could head back to the village if you need to warm up," the father decided. "You look like you've been through a ruff patch."

Tahni felt a little smile rise on his face.

"Thank you, I'll take you up on that offer."

As the three of them headed back, Tahni took note of the two others.

Vanta was young, maybe seven or eight. Her hair was tied back into a bow. Her father wasn't all muscle, but he was tall and lean. He looked like he was fast if not strong.

"What's your name?" Tahni asked, after he realized he didn't know the man's name.

"Hahtak," he answered.

Tahni stuggled to keep up, his boots weren't waterproof. They were black leather.

"What's _your_ name?" Hahtak asked.

"Tahni," he answered.

 _Crap, should I be telling people my name?_

Tahni mentally kicked himself.

"It's nice to meet you, Tahni," Hahtak replied as kindly as he could.

This took Tahni off-guard. He wasn't used to people being kind. It was usually just cold and demanding words that met his ears.

* * *

After they made their way over a hill of snow, Tahni could finally see the village. It was small. Most of the buildings were either igloos or wooden huts. Tahni even saw two little toddlers playing in the snow. He could feel a slight smile on his face.

 _Did I ever play like that?_ Tahni wondered.

It was unlikely, the voices had started when he was very young.

"Our hut is just at the outskirts," Hahtak informed him. "We'll give you a good meal, then we'll go searching for your group tommorow."

Tahni quickly thought up another lie.

"They probably already left without me," Tahni explained.

Hahtak thought about this for a moment as they approached one of the huts.

"Still wouldn't hurt to have a look," Hahtak replied, considering what Tahni had said.

The hut that Tahni assumed was their home was modest. It was small and wooden. There was a single window, to the right of the door. A small stone chimney peaked out from the far side of the hut. A puff of grey smoke constantly rose from it.

Vanta sprung to life, and rushed up the few stairs leading to the door. She flung the door open and yelled, "mom! We're home!"

Tahni and Hahtak entered after Vanta.

The inside of the wooden hut was much more decorated that the outside. A few pelts were hung flattened onto the walls. The fireplace was full of wooden logs, sending smoke up the chimney. Above the fireplace hung the taxodermy head of a beast hunted.

A woman with long black hair in a dark blue robe fiddled with pans being heated over the fireplace.

"Who is this?" she asked kindly, smiling at Tahni.

"This is Tahni, found him lost out there," Hahtak replied as he sat by the fire.

"I guess this means you didn't catch anything," she sighed. "Oh well, guess we're having fish again."

She pulled the pan from the fire to reveal a prepared fish.

Hahtak suddenly realised he hadn't introduced Tahni to his wife.

"This is Pauna, my wife," Hahtak stated.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Pauna," Tahni greeted.

"It's wonderful to meet you as well," Pauna replied.

Vanta was tearing off her thick boots. One she had removed them she tossed them aside and discarded of her coat with equal vigor.

"Is he staying the night? Because if he is, I'm not giving up my bed," she asked.

Hahtak replied, "he can sleep out here, we're going to search for his group in the morning."

Pauna started to gather plates and prepared four parts of the fish. While Pauna set up the food, Hahtak and Tahni removed their coats and boots. Hahtak seemed curious at the colors of Tahni's tunic, but didn't ask.

When presented with a plate, Tahni softly pushed it away.

"I shouldn't eat up your food," he protested.

Pauna pushed it back into his hands with a suprising amount of strength.

"Nonsense, you need to eat," she insisted.

Slowly, Tahni began to eat alongside the family. He wasn't used to eating such a nicely prepared meal. The Red Lotus fed him grey sludge that was blended protein, veggies, and such. Tahni enjoyed the fresh taste in his mouth. It was the first time he could remember actually _enjoying_ his meal. After the meal, everyone went to their beds.

Tahni was giving a fur blanket and pillow. He soon found himself asleep.

* * *

Tahni awoke to the sound of the creaking door. He sat up and opened his eyes to find Hahtak walking in with two black-robed men.

The Red Lotus.

Hahtak had a giant smile on his face.

"Yeah, he's been staying here. He was afraid you had left without him, can you believe it?" Hahtak explained to the two Red Lotus members.

Tahni just stared in shock.

"Oh Tahni! You're awake! I figured I'd let you sleep in, so I went out and searched for your group without you, and as you can see I found them!" Hahtak said once he saw Tahni was awake.

Hahtak's expression revealed he didn't know the Red Lotus, he thought he had only found Tahni's group. He wasn't an enemy. Once Hahtak saw the shocked look on Tahni's face, his own turned to one of confusion.

It was the last look Hahtak ever gave.

The Red Lotus member to the left pulled out and dagger and stabbed Hahtak from behind directly in the heart. Hahtak fell to his knees dead.

"NO!" Tahni screamed as he sprung up and jumped at the dagger-wielding Red Lotus member.

Pauna heard Tahni scream and she awoke to see her husband fall from his knees and hit the floor with a thud.

"Hahtak?!" she yelled, for a few seconds unaware what just happened.

Vanta awoke and screamed once she saw the scene unfolding.

As Tahni tried to tackle one of the Red Lotus members, the other turned to Pauna. She tried to leap from her bed, but the Red Lotus member had already raised his hands and sent a volley of fire. The fire pinned against her against the wall as she burnt into ash.

Vanta was beginning to cry instead of scream. The firebender turned to face _her_ now.

Tahni reacted with instinct. He spun the dagger his first foe's hands and plunged it into his opponent's chest. At the same time, he swung his leg to trip the firebender just as he started sending fire. A blast of fire hit the wooden ceiling. As the firebender tried to get back to his feet, Tahni swung his left arm and smacked the firebender's skull with the left side of his fist. The firebender hit the floor, unconcious.

Tahni looked to Vanta, who was as confused as she was terrified. He sprung to his feet and ran to her. She raised her hands to defend herself, but Tahni grabbed one of her raised arms and pulled her after him out the door, the ceiling collapsing behind them.

He shielded his eyes for a second upon exiting the burning hut, but when his eyes adjusted he spotted a dozen or so of the Red Lotus standing in front of him.

"Stay behind me," Tahni said to Vanta.

She gladly did so, hiding her small frame behind him.

Tahni raised his hands, bending threads of water along with them. He spun, throwing the narrow threads at the group. The blow knocked them all down. Tahni grabbed Vanta's arm once more and led her down the street, which was filling with people who had come out to seek the source of the strange noises.

Once the Red Lotus got back on their feet they saw the gathering crowd of people. They showed no mercy. Pikes of ice staked people into the ground. Boulders of stone were thrown as the people tried to run. Fire burnt everything in its path.

"GO!" Tahni yelled after he released Vanta's arm.

She did as he ordered. Tahni looked back at the people running for their lives. He couldn't let them die. He just couldn't bring himself to run away.

So he ran foward.

Tahni grabbed one of the ice spikes mid-air and spun it around himself until he let it fly back at the Red Lotus. It struck one of them in the stomach, and pierced through him. A boulder was sent flying at him, but Tahni reacted in time to spin clockwise and dodge it. The boulder came a mere centimeter from his nose as he spun. Tahni took this chance as he spun to grab more water from the snowy ground. He formed a tendril of water and he threw it at the earthbender's head and he made it freeze after it contained it. He chucked the man onto the ground, and his head hit it hard. Whether the earthbender was dead or simply unconcious afterwards was of no concern to Tahni right now.

Tahni heard the roar of fire coming from behind him. He drew a wall of ice from the snowy ground. The fire bended around it like a river around a stone. Tahni then kicked the wall of ice in the general direction from which the fire came. The block of ice collided with the firebender, who's fate was also unknown to Tahni.

A tendril of water snapped behind his right knee. Tahni fell to that knee with a groan from the pain. Tahni spun on the knee and kicked with his left leg. A spike of ice flew from the ground and it impaled the enemy waterbender. Tahni forced himself to stand. The pain was manageable. He bared his teeth to try and help deal with the pain. The Red Lotus members that were still up and fighting started to circle around him.

One whipped his back with water.

Another threw a small stone at his ankle.

Tahni tried to bend at them, but everytime he rose to his feet they gave another blow to send him back down.

The earthbending Red Lotus members started the rise earth from the ground around Tahni. They were trapping him.

 _No_ , Tahni thought. _I can't go back there_. _I won't go back there._

The earth started to curve above his head, stealing every precious piece of sunlight. Slowly but surely, the light dimmed until it was no more. It was pitch black. Only the rumbling of the moving earth and the sharpness of pain filled his senses. Tahni felt his legs give out. He fell onto his knees. He grabbed at the snow like it could somehow save him. His bleeding and cut hands held onto the ice-cold snow as it melted to his touch.

Then a violet light started to brighten. Tahni looked up at the top, but found no hole. He reached out, only to find a shadow formed behind his hands. The light... was coming from him...

The light got brighter and brighter.

That is all Tahni remembered before he blacked out.


	2. Departure

Tahni's eyes slowly opened to the sound of fires still going. His head felt awful. He slowly sat up, despite his roaring headache. As he placed a cold-to-the-touch hand on his right temple, his sight came into focus.

Everyone around him was dead.

Tahni realised he had fallen unconcious next to a dead body. The face of the dead Red Lotus member was still starring at him with blank eyes. Tahni shut his eyes to shield himself from the sudden horror.

He made sure to be facing a different direction when he reopened his eyes once he had gathered himself. His legs ached when he forced himself to get on his feet. Try as he may, he couldn't stop leaning to his left. Tahni slowly limped his way down the wreckage-covered street. The roofs of half of the buildings were completely blown off as if a strong storm had passed by. The roof of one house was fifty feet down the street. Tahni eventually made it away from the majority of the corpses, upon which he couldn't bear to look.

It was his fault.

Sure, the Red Lotus were the ones who did the killing, but it was he who led them to this small, innocent village. Just more blood on his hands. Tahni looked down at his hands. There was _actual_ blood on his hands. Tahni went to a snowbank at the right side of the road. He went to his knees and used the snow to wash off the blood. In his weakened and exhausted state, Tahni failed to realize that he was a mess all over. His tunic's right sleeve was completely torn off from the elbow down. Cuts and tears plagued his outfit, but somehow washing the blood off his hands made him feel better.

Tahni rose to feet once more and continued to limp down the abandoned street. The sight of the torn apart village was too much for him to bear after a few minutes, so he just looked down at his feet only to make a startling discovery.

He wasn't wearing any footwear. He was walking in the snow with no socks nor boots. In all the chaos that ensued earlier that day he had forgotten to put his boots back on before he fled Hahtak's house.

Tahni looked to the house on his right. They owners were either gone or dead. It wouldn't hurt for him to take some footwear if any was inside. He walked up the stairs to the wooden hut. It seemed to be similar to Hahtak's house. Tahni opened the door to find the interior in stark contrast to Hahtak's. There was carpets on the floor instead of the wooden floor covered by pelt rugs. The fireplace wasn't going, for obvious reasons, but smoke still rose from the ashes. He found a pair of winter boots waiting for him at the front rug. Seems when the owner of this house ran, he neglected footwear as well. Tahni put them on, to find them a little too small. Tahni wasn't go to argue, as the boots the Red Lotus had given him were too snug as well. Tahni started to look around the hut.

He couldn't stay here, and he needed supplies if he was going to leave. The owner of this house seemed to be richer than Hahtak, as the food was of better quality, and in little boxes and cans. A few bottles of fresh drinking water were hidden away in a little fridge. After searching for half an hour, Tahni finally found a bag to put the food and water in. The bag was similar to the one that Tahni got from his Red Lotus caretakers, but in a blue and grey pattern. It was after Tahni had finally prepared to leave the hut that he realized he was wearing shredded clothing. He looked around for a few minutes until he found some fresh clothing. The pants were surprisingly a good fit. They were a dark grey, but lacked any pockets or zippers. A blue and dark grey coat/robe was also chosen by him. It had brown and grey fur on the inside of it, so it would probably keep Tahni warm. It also had a hood, which had white fur sewn into the creases.

It was then that Tahni finally set out.

* * *

Tahni had finally made it to the dock of the small village. It wasn't truly a dock however, just a couple wooden posts half-buried to tie ships to. Conveniently there was a small canoe floating in the calm water. Tahni didn't see any harm in taking the canoe. The villager who owned the boat was either dead or gone.

Tahni wondered if Vanta got out. He hoped she did. But he couldn't bring himself to go back and look to see if she was among the dead. After minutes of contemplating this, he finally reached a conclusion: it didn't matter. If she was alive, Tahni had succeeded in saving someone at least. If she was dead, well, there was nothing he could do about that.

Tahni swung his right leg over the rim of the canoe, and placed it his foot on the wooden frame. The canoe floated away a few inches in the water, due to the force of the step. Tahni could feel his tired muscles stabbing his mind with pain as they stretched. He slowly shifted his balance over the canoe, and lifted his left foot. His right foot screamed with pain as his weight was put solely on it.

Tahni hissed through his teeth at the sharp pain. He slowly sat down in the canoe, his bag preventing him from laying down. Tahni looked to the rope holding the canoe in place. With what little mental energy Tahni had left, he bended a sharp crescent to rise from the water and cut it in a clean swipe.

Despite the grueling nature of his upbringing at the hands of the Red Lotus, they still had given him a fair education. He didn't have the education in mathematics a child normally had, but they had taught him geography, if only for militaristic reasons. Tahni knew the ocean currents well enough to understand that if he got far enough into the South Sea, his canoe would drift into the shores of the islands that hosted the Patola Mountains. But he needed to avoid the Air Nation, they would surely lock him up or something. Would they lock him up? Tahni never really took the time to consider what they might do to him. Surely, they wouldn't kill him, as he would simply be reborn. Maybe they'd try to force him into the avatar state so that his connection to Vaatu could be destroyed permanently. Tahni forced himself to focus on the journey ahead, instead of focusing on such bitter possibilities.

Tahni decided it was best to ride the currents up until he met the islands, then he would have to land and advance on foot. He couldn't drift or sail all the way around the islands, as they reversed half way past them. Another reason is that it was a major commercial trade route, and he wouldn't want to run into any more people.

Tahni looked up from his canoe to realize he had already drifted a good fourty feet from the dock. He was making progress without trying. Perhaps it was best to simply rest until he was far enough from shore to see where he was.

Slowly, Tahni removed his backpack and set it behind him. He laid back, using the sack as a makeshift pillow. Tahni soon found his eyelids closed. Perhaps he could just rest for a few minutes...

* * *

Tahni awoke to a cloudy night sky.

 _Crap,_ Tahni thought to himself.

He quickly sat up, a little too quickly, the boat rocked a little. Tahni grabbed the sides of the canoe and held on, as if it would stop the rocking. After a few moments, the canoe leveled out again. Tahni slowly looked around him. It was pitch black. He couldn't tell if he was next to the shore or about to crash into a glacier.

 _CRAP. CRAP. CRAP._

Tahni bit his bottom lip. How long was he asleep for? It was so dark he couldn't tell if his eyes were opened or closed.

What was he going to do?

"Calm yourself," a rich voice spoke.

Who was that? Tahni couldn't see anyone.

"Who's there?!" Tahni demanded, frightened but still in control of his voice.

After a moment, the voice replied, "has it been that long since we've spoken? Have you forgotten me?"

Tahni's face turned pale.

Vaatu.

 _No. Focus. Block him out_ , Tahni thought to himself.

Try as he may, Tahni couldn't seem to do so. He was simply too exhaused, and badly hurt to block Vaatu out.

"Relax," Vaatu continued. "Who am I going to hurt all the way out here? You? We are bonded, young fool, as such I feel what you feel, for example, pain."

Tahni started to calm down a little, but still didn't let his guard down.

"What do you want?" Tahni asked, with a demanding tone.

After a few moments, Vaatu answered, "for you to calm down before you tip the boat."

Tahni corrected, "it's a canoe."

 _"Whatever._ Call it what you want. You can call it a floating log for all I care."

Tahni was silent after that response.

"If you are so desperate for a light to comfort you, heal youself," Vaatu instructed.

Tahni raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Tahni asked, confusion evident in his voice.

Vaatu gave an annoyed sigh, then explained, "when you heal, the water glows."

Tahni replied, "oh!"

Tahni concentrated on the water outside the canoe. He bended a small fist-sized blob of the icy cold water to rise up from the fluid sea. He bended it into a loose disc, and put it over his left leg. He started to go through the motions of healing. Tahni was used to healing himself-the Red Lotus training sessions were brutal. A soft, cyan glow began to radiate from the water. The water was extremely cold to the touch, but the sensation of the healing water counter-balanced this. After a few moments, part of his left leg was healed.

"Hooligan, heal slower! If you keep doing it as this rate you'll be unable to heal anymore!" Vaatu urged him.

Tahni did as Vaatu instructed.

"Why do you care so much?" Tahni asked, curious.

"I find your panicked breathing unendurably annoying," Vaatu answered with a sigh. "Also, if you die, you're reborn as a screaming infant again."

Tahni's eyes widened.

"That's... understandable," Tahni admitted, nodding in agreement after he overcame the shock installed by Vaatu's brutally honest answer.

Tahni started to try and be more sloppy with his healing. As much as he tried, he couldn't fully keep his sloppiness intact. As his healing started to weaken, the healing sensation no longer counter-balanced the cold touch of the water. The glow also weakened, but not to a serious enough degree for Tahni to loose vision.

"I don't understand why you Humans are afraid of the dark..." Vaatu finally said after a short while.

After a moment of consideration, Tahni replied, "we're mostly afraid of what is in the dark."

Vaatu replied, "you mean what could be in the dark. Fear of the unknown is pointless, in my opinion."

"Why is fear of the unknown pointless?" Tahni asked.

"It is pointless because your fear won't change what is or isn't known to you. Fear of the known, however, can be most useful," Vaatu explained.

"And why is that?" Tahni asked further.

"Aren't you full of questions?" Vaatu commented before answering, "fear of the known can keep you away from danger, away from death. And for me, your death would result in me having to endure another crying infant. You almost died back there before I had to intervene."

Tahni felt shivers run down his spine.

"That's right... You..." Tahni trailed off, unable to speak for some unknown reason.

"-had to force you into the avatar state? Yes. I am not going to deal with another crying child," Vaatu completed.

"You made me kill," Tahni suddenly realized.

"I saved you. Twice, actually," Vaatu corrected.

Tahni felt his breathing quicken. He felt a mixture of fear and anger.

"And to be fair, you killed a few without my help," Vaatu added.

"I had to-"

"And _I_ had to save _you._ What were you going to do back in that compound? Hm?" Vaatu interrupted. "Were you going to hold them in place and hope they didn't instantly come after you the second you released your grip? What were you going to do as you were forced onto you knees? Let them take you back to that compound and punish you for escaping? Admit it, I protected you."

"I don't want your protection," Tahni replied, anger evident in his voice. "I don't want to hear you, talk to you, or anything at all to do with you!"

"And why is that? Are you afraid of me? Remember, I feel what you feel. Are you afraid that I'll take over you? You're the one who gave me power."

"I didn't-"

"Are you telling me that I'm mistaken? That in those moments of desperation, of anger, you didn't slip over to me a sliver of control?" Vaatu interupted once again.

"I don't want you," Tahni finally stated.

"Are you sure? I'm the only one you have left now," Vaatu replied.

As much as Tahni wanted to deny it, deep down, he knew it was true.


	3. First Encounter

Darkness surrounded Tahni as he awoke on his third night on the South Sea. The clear cyan sky filled his view. The southern lights were out of view now, below the ever-wide horizon. At first, Tahni shielded his eyes from the blinding light given off by the sun, but after a few moments, his eyes adjusted.

Tahni slowly rose to his feet on the narrow canoe and positioned himself to waterbend. He focused on the push and pull as he started to cause a small wave to rise behind him. Steadily, slowly by surely, the wave grew in size. By the time the wave met the rear of the canoe, it was as high as Tahni himself. Tahni stretched out his arms and felt the wave push his canoe foward. After a few minutes, the wave started to decrease in size, and Tahni had to start all over again.

"If you would embrace me you'd be on the shores by now," Vaatu stated with an annoyed tone.

"If I embraced you, all of the marine life in this sea could die instantly," Tahni replied, half-joking.

"Fair point," Vaatu admited.

Tahni started push the water behind him, then raise it. At this rate, who knows how long it might take him. Sure, the currents are strong, but he wants to escape the currents and hit the shores. Tahni decided the experiment with his technique and pulled the water back harder than he pushed it. The water seemed to be weaker.

"Are you forgeting how to waterbend?" Vaatu asked.

Tahni narrowed his eyes as he pushed back more water.

"No," Tahni insisted. "I'm testing out some new ideas."

"Well, while you're 'testing', don't forget waterbending is focused around push and pull," Vaatu reminded.

Tahni released his grip on the water he had ready to push foward. He decided to push back with more force, then pull it back with an equal but sustained amount of force.

The results were _beautiful._

Tahni rose the wave for five times longer than before. He decided to take it another step foward after that. He applied even more force. The wave started to not be as high, but quicker, and more powerful. The wave was now fifteen times more efficient than the initial.

"You're a fast learner, aren't you?" Vaatu commented.

"I know how to waterbend, I was drilled constantly, it's just that I've never been out on open water before," Tahni replied, taking it as sarcasm.

"I was trying to be sincere there, fool," Vaatu sneered.

Tahni ignored Vaatu's foul mood and regained his focus on his waterbending.

Maybe he could cause a current under the water instead of over it.

Tahni started to bend a vertically-inclined ring underneath his canoe. The water started to propell the canoe foward at speeds that Tahni hadn't reached with his wave technique.

At this rate he would reach the shores by day's end.

* * *

It was day's end, and he was still on the open water. The sun had setted hours prior, and Tahni couldn't even see if he was still going in a straight line because of it. The moon was full, but hidden behind a thick array of clouds. He was far enough north of the south pole to not need to worry about glaciers, but now he had to worry about comercial shipping. Why did Tahni know about commercial shipping? Because the Red Lotus decided he needed to know about civilian targets as well. Tahni was both grateful and disgusted by that certain training session.

Tahni kept the circuit of water flowing under his canoe, and he continued to glide over the water because of it. The full moon overhead, while hidden behind the clouds, made it easier to bend. Tahni heard only the sound of the wooden bottom of the canoe skid across the water at high speed. He saw nothing but familiar darkness all around him. Tahni was in a trance, bending the water without using as much mental energy as he had been during the day. The smell of salty water filled his nostils.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a mechanical engine. He turned his head to see a boat sailing in his general direction. Tahni immediately bended his boat to the right a little, going a little faster than usual. The water under the canoe started to make a louder sound as Tahni accelerated.

The passengers on the boat noticed the sound, and eventually the boat started to turn towards Tahni.

 _Crap,_ Tahni thought to himself.

Tahni decided wait in the darkness, hopefully they would overlook him, and miss him.

They didn't.

A bright light searched in the water. If Tahni waited, the light would find him. If he moved, they would hear. There was no avoiding detection. Tahni started to bend the current under his canoe, alongside another one a fair twenty feet away. With luck, they would focus on the seperate one. They took the bait and looked for the false trail, while Tahni started to glide up alongside the boat. As he glided passed, he notice an insignia, that had a gear in it, was decorating the hull.

Was this a cargo ship of some kind? The build of the ship seemed to contrast that idea. The boat didn't have crates on it, but instead a couple decks with brightly lit rooms. There were four lifeboats, two on the starboard and two on the port side.

The crew of the ship noticed the closer sound that was Tahni's vessel and turned the light to him.

He had been spotted.

"Hey!" one of them yelled, clearly a male.

Tahni grimaced, and by instint, bended the water from the current into a spear of ice. He flung the spear into the spotlight. Tahni could hear the glass shatter, alongside a female yelling in anger.

A whip of water impacted the rear of Tahni's canoe. Tahni was thrown into the air by the sheer force of the attack. Tahni was able to perform a backflip, and almost by instinct, freeze some water around his feet. He began to glide on the water as if he were ice-skating. Tahni glided in a counter-clockwise circle to avoid a fire blast the came from the boat's deck.

 _A firebender and a waterbender?_ Tahni wondered.

He reached into the water and threw a body-sized blast of water at the hull of the boat. Tahni hoped that he could rock the boat and get the crew off-balance. He didn't have time to see if it had worked, as he had to escape. He started to glide as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

"Get back here!" a female yelled.

Tahni didn't look back, he turned to his right once far enough away, hoping to lose them. After he glided ahead for a short distance, he spun around to see if the boat had followed.

It had.

It raced through the water, suprisingly fast for its size.

Tahni heard the thunderous roar of water racing toward him. Tahni dodged to his left, barely avoiding a collision with the female. The lights from the boat lit up some of the airborne water, and allowed Tahni to see her. She was wearing blue, and had her dark hair cut short.

The female got a look at Tahni as well. He could tell she was shocked at his age.

She sent a blast of fire at him. Tahni, for a split second, froze.

 _She's the Avatar?!_ Tahni screamed in his head. _No. No. No. No._

Tahni panicked, forgetting about sublelty, and formed a water sprout beneath him. He raced away as fast he could. A tendril of water grapped him as he fled, and solidified into ice. The Avatar whipped him back, and Tahni collided with the sea's cold surface. The collision with the surface of the water knocked the air out of him and stunned him momentarily. It was enough time for him to start to sink down into the ocean. Tahni saw the dark figure of the Avatar dive in after him. Was she trying to save him? Or finish the job? Tahni didn't know. Darkness started to cloud his vision as Tahni started sink. Was he even trying to breath? Part of Tahni just wanted to keep sinking. Another part wanted the oppositie.

"Embrace me," Vaatu's voice called.

Tahni, with no other choice, did so.

Tahni suddenly felt empowered. The water around him glowed lime and violet. He rose on a renewed water sprout. His eyes glowed a bright crimson color. He was facing away from the Avatar, but spun around to face her as she rose. The Avatar stared up at Tahni, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Tahni stared down at the Avatar. Both of them were frozen in what seemed like eternity. Both unsure of what they should do.

Should he use this moment to flee? Or swat at her like a bug and be done with it?

Tahni never got to decide, as a small pebble collided with the back of his head and rendered him unconscious.

* * *

Tahni's eyes slowly opened to find himself in a room with burgundy-colored walls. The walls seemed to be plastic. The floor was wooden, a darker shade than the walls. The ceiling was a clean and soft light blue. Also plastic-looking. As Tahni's vision began to refocus, he noticed the figure standing in front of him.

The Avatar.

She seemed taller than usual...

Tahni realized that was because he was tied up in a wooden chair, set up against the wall. The Avatar just stared at him, as if she were unsure of what to do. Tahni studied her face. She looked like she was a mixture of frightened, confused, and angry.

She slowly took a breath and finally asked, " _who are you_?"

Tahni didn't answer. He didn't have an answer.

 _Oh yeah, I'm Tahni and I'm the Dark Avatar. I'm your mortal enemy_! Tahni thought to himself. _That'll go down well._


	4. Lovely Discussions and Dinner Time

Tahni had no sane answer to the question he had just been asked.

The Avatar just stared down him, trying to comprehend the event that had just played out. Tahni could tell that she didn't expect an answer, so he said nothing. The Avatar's facial expression was one of... what? Anger? Disgust? _Fear?_ After a moment of observation, Tahni decided it was one of surprise and confusion.

The Avatar took a deep breath, closing her tired, brown eyes. She stopped leaning over his tied-up frame, and straightened her back. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked back down at Tahni.

"I'm guessing you were responsible for the savage massacre that occurred in the Southern Water Tribe village," she stated, without hesitation in her voice.

Tahni looked up at her and gave an awkward shrug.

"Eh?" he responded, unsure of whether or not he was _responsible_. "Depends on your definition of 'responsible'."

The Avatar raised her eyebrows, then lowered them in annoyance and frustration.

"Did you kill those people?" she demanded.

"Not _all_ of them," Tahni answered honestly.

 _Not all of them?_ Tahni thought to himself. _Now it sounds like you participated in the butchery._ _Great going, idiot_.

Tahni could see rage flare in the Avatar's eyes. She was barely able to keep herself from severely hurting him.

"Why? Why did you kill _some_ of them?" she asked, anger evident in her voice.

Tahni sighed, "because they were killing the villagers."

The Avatar was even more angry and confused.

"Who _precisely_ did you kill?" the Avatar inquired.

Without thinking, Tahni answered, "the Red Lotus Sentries who followed me."

 _Oh crap, you just dug your own grave,_ he thought, baring his teeth for an awkward breath.

The Avatar's focus was in complete disarray, and Tahni couldn't blame her. First her boat gets attacked by the Dark Avatar, and now the Red Lotus is involved? The Avatar slowly regained her focus. She took an unsteady breath of cold air.

"Why were the Red Lotus following you?" The Avatar asked, a false smile on her face.

Tahni figured he might as well come clean, although the truth was nothing but filthy.

"They're kind of... obsessive over me. They kidnapped me at a young age and have been trying to train me to be some sort of secret weapon," Tahni admitted.

The Avatar blinked rapidly.

"Okay...?" she trailed off.

She was stunned by his brutal honesty, Tahni figured. That at least gave him a chance to keep her from killing him a little longer.

"Are you going to kill me?" Tahni asked, fear absent from his voice. He asked the question as if it were of minor importance.

"Am I going to..." the Avatar repeated to herself.

Obviously, she hadn't thought out a plan, as to what she was going to do with Tahni. She couldn't kill him, actually, he'd just be reborn. She couldn't just let him rot in this chair, tied up, until he died of natural causes.

"Go ahead and take your time deciding, it's not like I'm going anywhere," Tahni said, as if this was a somewhat funny situation.

* * *

Tahni's wrists were starting to get sore from the ropes. He had been trying for hours to loosen their hold of him. The Avatar's voice could be heard among others outside the room, and Tahni was going to at least try to escape. He stopped struggling when the door began to open in front of him.

The wooden door slowly swung in to reveal it was a man holding a food tray. The man's hair was jet black and semi-spiky. He wore a grey and red tunic.

"I'm guessing you're hungry," the man stated.

Tahni shrugged, he hadn't been thinking about food as much as escape, but now that the thought entered his mind, he noticed that his stomach was turning.

The man pulled an identical chair from the corner of the room. He placed it in front of Tahni and sat upon it.

Tahni gave a deep and uninterested sigh.

"I suppose you're going to spoon-feed me now?" Tahni smirked, raising an eyebrow.

The man's eyes widened. He obviously hadn't thought this through.

"Look, just untie me so I don't have to eat like an infant," Tahni begged.

The man narrowed his eyes.

"You're just going to escape," he stated.

Tahni scoffed, "and how would I do that? Am I going to hold you hostage with a fork and spoon?"

The man wasn't convinced.

"Let's count, shall we?" Tahni continued. "On board, you have the Avatar, an earthbender... could've sworn that was a rock that hit me last night... Anyways, and then there's you, a firebender."

"How did you know I'm a firebender?" the man asked, wondering if Tahni had prior knowledge about them.

"I figured that you were a firebender because you have orange eyes, you're tunic is partially red stuff, and you weren't afraid to feed me without any weapons on you," Tahni answered.

The man looked around.

"I'm not supposed to undo the ropes," he stated.

Tahni looked to the ceiling and sighed in frustration.

"If you're _that_ paranoid, just bring the Avatar in here while I eat, and don't give me anything with water in it, I can only bend water," Tahni explained.

After a moment, the man asked, "don't you need water to survive?"

Tahni groaned and replied, "just tie me down again, and pour a cup of water into my mouth. Seriously, do I have to tell you word for word how to hold me prisoner?!"

That shut the man up. The man placed the food tray on the floor next to Tahni and walked out the door to go get the Avatar.

Tahni looked down at the food tray, there was nothing sharp for him to cut himself free. Even if there was anything sharp on the food tray, he wouldn't be able to reach it.

"Curses," Tahni said to himself.

The door reopened, and in came the Avatar with her ally.

"Do I really have to be here, just to watch him while he eats a fish?" the Avatar asked.

"This is the Dark Avatar we're talking about," the man replied.

Tahni held his head back and closed his eyes as the two discussed how to proceed. After a few moments, Tahni interrupted with, "can you two please move this along? I haven't eaten in two days."

Tahni looked back at them as he heard the man moving forward. He slowly sat back down in the wooden chair, and started to fiddle with the rope securing Tahni's right hand.

"Promise to behave?" the Avatar asked Tahni.

Tahni smiled and replied, "as if I have a choice?"

The man finally finished untying Tahni's right hand. Tahni immediately stretched out his right arm. The man panicked, and quickly held it back down onto the wooden arm-rest.

Tahni just stared at the man as if he was a fool.

"What's the matter? Am I not allowed to stretch?" Tahni asked, with a smirk on his cut up face.

"Mako, please, stop being paranoid and just untie..." the Avatar didn't know how to address Tahni.

Was she couldn't to say the Dark Avatar? Boy? _It_?

"My name is Tahni," he sighed.

"No last name?" Mako asked as he untied Tahni's left hand.

Tahni raised his eyebrows, still smirking, "what? I was kidnapped when I was a toddler. Am I suppossed to remember my blood type as well?"

Mako shrugged.

"You were kidnapped when you a toddler?" the Avatar asked, surprised. "You said were kidnapped at a young age, but I never figured it was as young as that."

Tahni grimaced, "what can I say? The Red Lotus wanted me young, wanted to brainwash me. Hard to get brainwashed when you keep having nightmares of your father's face being blown up."

The Avatar sighed, "well then..."

Mako finished untying Tahni's left hand. Tahni, slowly this time, moved his right hand to feel his left hand's wrist.

"Compliments to the person who tied me up. My wrists are sorer than my face," Tahni declared as he looked over the red marks on his wrists.

Tahni reached over his right side and picked up the food tray and set it in his lap.

"Fish?" Tahni asked, looking over the small meal. "You spoil me."

Mako took offence to this.

"Well sorry that we don't feed prisoners better," he replied bruntly.

Tahni's smirk returned.

"Actually, this is the second-best meal I can remember receiving," Tahni admitted.

Tahni flipped the fork around in his hand and began to cut a piece of the fish off.

"Second-best?" the Avatar asked, curious.

"A family took me in at the village and gave me a nice meal, also fish. That was say... three days ago?" Tahni recalled. "It's hard to keep track of time when you're floating in a canoe."

Tahni stabbed the cut-off piece of fish and put it in his mouth.

"Aw, pity," he sighed. "Mako took too long and now it's cold."

Mako narrowed his eyes at Tahni. Tahni look up at Mako and smiled.

"Would you like some?" Tahni asked in a mocking voice.

The Avatar didn't care about the temperature of the fish, and asked, "what happened to the family who took you in?"

Tahni grimaced once again.

"The father and mother were... well... killed," Tahni explained, slowly and unsteadily.

Tahni rolled his eyes when he saw the looks on the Avatar and Mako's faces.

"Not by _me_ ," Tahni reassured.

The Avatar asked, "they were parents? What happened to the children?"

Tahni gave a deep sigh, and answered, "there was only one child, a daughter, and I don't know whether or not she got out."

Mako asked, "and _why_ is it that you don't know what happened to her?"

"Because I told her to run, while I held the Red Lotus Sentries off," Tahni replied.

The Avatar and Mako just stared at Tahni, taken by surprise by this statement.

Tahni took another bite of the fish and stated, "this may be hard for you to believe, but I'm not, what would you call it? Ah yes, a _stone-cold bitch_."


	5. Even More Interrogations

Tahni sat, tied up in the chair, as the floor swerved back and forth beneath him. Little light came from the cracks of the door frame facing him, revealing it was night, or at least dark out. The first time Tahni ever being on the seas, he found it impossible to sleep that night, or time where it was dark out. The waters weren't cooperating with the Tahni, and the Avatar's crew. The speed the sea-traveling vessel was going obviously was helping either. He heard the sound of the wind intensify, as if it were a chorus of breathing whips.

Tahni could faintly make out the sound of beckoning calls from other ships. They seemed to be stronger, and deeper, than the horns of commercial vessels.

It was a military fleet.

Tahni figured that it was the Southern Water Tribe Fleet, as it only made since. These were Southern Water Tribe waters.

The door suddenly opened.

Tahni looked up from the dark, wooden floor, and saw the silhouette of Mako.

"Time to wake up, Tahni," Mako stated.

Tahni sighed, "I'm already awake."

Mako was silent for a few seconds, then replied, "oh."

Mako walked over to Tahni's restrained form, his footsteps creaking on the wooden planks beneath them.

"If you try anything funny, just remember, we have the entire Southern Water Tribe Fleet here," Mako warned as he began to undo the knots in the rope holding Tahni in place. His voice wasn't one of intimidation, but one of concern.

The room was so dark that Tahni couldn't even see the rope tied around him. His body had adjusted to the pressure of the rope, and only the sound of them hitting the floor delivered the message he was free.

"We're in the middle of the sea. Where'd I go?" Tahni pointed out as he flexed out his arms.

Mako began to untie the rope around Tahni's ankles. This time, Tahni felt the pressure release. They must of tied him up tighter the first time. He straightened his legs, hearing, and feeling the muscles as they softly popped at their newly regained freedom of motion.

Mako watched as Tahni slowly got to his feet.

"They want us to deliver you tied up," Mako stated, hesitation in his voice.

"They?" Tahni inquired.

"The fleet, they want you detained before you come onto the lead vessel."

Tahni sighed, "just as you untie me, you want to tie my back up again.

Mako crouched down and tried to reach for the rope. It was so dark that even Mako couldn't find it.

Tahni rolled his eyes, and crouched down to assist his captor find the very item to keep him in bondage.

"Part of me doesn't even know _why_ I'm helping you tie me back up again," Tahni admitted.

Tahni could hear Mako give a quick snicker.

"I don't know why either," the Avatar's voice replied.

Tahni looked over his shoulder to see the Avatar's dark and shadowy form standing in the doorway. He was tired of seeing dark figures. It was creepy.

"Could you please turn on the lights? We lost the rope," Tahni requested.

The Avatar, without looking, reached out her left hand and flipped the small switch on the wall. A searing bright light came from above them. Tahni held up his hand to shield his unadjusted eyes. He looked above him for the first time, and realized there was a chandelier.

"Was that there the whole time?" Tahni asked himself.

The fresh air felt cold in Tahni's lungs. The sheer cold of the air made his teeth slightly ache as he breathed through them. He walked alongside Mako and the Avatar as they led him through the ship towards the ship's port side. While Mako and the Avatar were nervous, Tahni was completely fixated on the fleet that sailed before him.

Based on what he could see, the fleet was based around a single battleship, and multiple smaller craft. The battleship had two bows, giving it a catamaran-like appearance. From both of the bows rose two snow-white figures that resembled dragons. The rest of the ship was colored white as well, with blue stripes covering it, giving the vessel a proud expression of sorts.

"Hard to believe that vessel used to belong to Varrick," Mako stated.

"Tell me about it, if Bolin wasn't still asleep, I'd have him go in search of the cat-gator deck," the Avatar replied, smirking.

"Who's Varrick?" Tahni asked, curious.

"Um.." Mako trailed off, unsure of how to answer that question. "We've known him for many years, and _still_ we don't know half the time."

Tahin shrugged. He figured it was as good of an answer as he was going to get.

A ramp came down from the middle of the battleship's starboard side, and docked onto the Avatar's ship. Two men in dark blue uniforms came down the ramp to meet them.

"Is this him?" one of the men asked.

The Avatar nodded. One of them took out a large pair of metal cuffs. They were long and cylindrical. They vigorous forced them onto Tahni's compliant wrists. Then the men placed their hands on Tahni's shoulders, and led him off. As Tahni was guided up the ramp, he looked over his shoulder back at the Avatar and Mako.

They avoided eye contact, but remained looking foward.

Did they feel guilty?

Tahni sighed and looked ahead as he stepped off the metal ramp, and onto the also metal deck of the battleship. A second pair of men waited to escort Tahni from the front.

"Can I ask where I'm going?" Tahni asked the men.

"Silence," one of them barked.

Tahni rolled his eyes. They were acting like they could take him on. If the Avatar wasn't watching from her ship, Tahni would have literally kicked them over the side of the railing. Alas, as the Avatar's presence deterred his possible escape, Tahni was compliant.

He was compliant when they led him to a small cell deep in the ship, he was compliant as they chained him to the side of the wall, and he was compliant when they slammed the door to his cell shut.

Roughly five minutes after Tahni had been relocated into his new cell, a man in a somewhat _fancier_ uniform came to stand outside the metal bars that made up the walls of his cell. The man was of middle age, and had dark hair with grey streaks going through it. He had little facial hair to speak of, beside long sideburns. His brown eyes were fixated on Tahni's tied up, shackled, and chained frame.

"Is this another interrogation?" Tahni asked, unintimidated by the man's tall stature and rank.

The man raised his eyebrows. He obviously was expecting Tahni to be afraid, or at least intimidated.

"I'll make you a deal," Tahni began.

"A deal?" the man asked, perplexed.

"I'll tell you everything if you get me a decent chair to sit in," Tahni finished.

The man was completely lost, and unsure of how to answer.

"Deal?" Tahni asked, tired and impatient.

The man blinked his eyes rapidly and nodded his head. He left the room, and returned with a wooden chair.

Tahni simply stared him down as he opened the door to the cell, and placed the chair alongside Tahni. Slowly, Tahni got his way to his feet and plopped down in the wooden chair.

He sighed, and leaned his head back.

"You may want to get a chair yourself, this is going to take a while," Tahni suggested.

The man did so.

As the man sat down in front of Tahni, and crossed his arms.

"So, first off, what is your name?" the man asked.

"Tahni. Yours?"

"I am Admiral Yulok of the Southern Water Tribe Fleet."

"Well, if I may say, it's _wonderful_ to meet you," Tahni smiled.

Yulok wasn't impressed.

"So, did you participate in the massacre on Tulu Village?" Yulok asked, trying to remain undeterred.

"No. Wait... Is that the name of the village?" Tahni replied.

Yulok responded, "Yes, and you're the one being interrogated, not me."

Tahni shook his head as if he were dissapointed.

"And I thought a conversation was supposed to benefit both sides," Tahni said to himself, under his breath, but still loud enough for Yulok to hear.

"Are you a member of the Red Lotus?" Yulok asked, ignoring Tahni's comment.

"Um... It's complicated..." Tahni replied.

"How so?" Yulok inquired, unhesitant in his pursuit of answers.

"I was kidnapped at a young and and forcedly indoctrinated, but I escaped their custody," Tahni answered. "Let's just say I'm not the most _loyal_ member of their organization."

"What is the location of the Red Lotus hideout?" Yulok asked.

"Somewhere around Tulu Village, underground," Tahni replied.

"Underground?"

"Yes, but probably deserted now that I escaped them," Tahni continued.

"And why do you think that?"

"I was taught all about how the Red Lotus should act when their head of operations was located by a government," Tahni answered. "And they would evacuate and abandon that location as that is protocol."

"They have protocols?" Yulok asked, confused.

"Saying that they have a few would be an understatement. Ever since the old leaders were either killed or captured, the new leaders really took over," Tahni confirmed.

"Do you know the identities of their 'new' leaders?" Yulok requested.

"No, I do not," Tahni grimaced. "All I know is that they operated from different smaller hideouts."

"Do you know where their smaller hideouts are?" Yulok asked.

"No," Tahni replied. "But I know that they are all over the place. Anyways, why aren't you writing this all down? Is your memory that good?"

"No, we're simply recording all of this," Yulok answered, gesturing towards a camera, and recorder.

"Sweet," Tahni smirked.

Tahni twisted his frame towards the camera and recorder, and yelled, "Give me a freaking blanket!"

Yulok moaned. He pointed a remote at the recorder, and it turned off.

"We'll resume tomorrow," he sighed.


	6. Candlelight Scheming

**First off** , **I apologize for the long wait for this new chapter. There were multiple reasons for my absence from the keyboard this month, among those reasons being school, a vacation, and me trying to map out how I want to have this Fanfiction story go forward. I am grateful for your patience, and I hope that you will enjoy the new chapter I have written for you. It may be a few hundred words shorter than the rest, but it is a very important chapter to the future plot of this story. Enjoy.**

* * *

The room was made of cold stone walls. Each of the walls were engraved with sharp-angled hieroglyphics, and poems written in languages long lost to the erosion that is time. The stone itself was a deep, dark nougat. A few candles were placed in cubic recesses in the walls, giving the room faint lighting. It mattered little to the men who were gathered around the round slate table in the center of the room; they had adjusted to the low lighting over the years they had spent down here. All of them, save for one, wore matching black and crimson robes, with their faces hidden away from sight with a hood. The one who stood out from the rest wore black robes with gold-looking inlays. Along the surface of the black kimono-like tunic that the man wore, if one were to look very closely, were faint hieroglyphics and markings in an aphotic crimson. The man's jet black hair was long and straight, but tied back, as most men who were native to the Water Tribes would do. Unlike most men from the Water Tribes, however, his skin was so pale that it rivaled fresh dust in its lack of color. His cheekbones were pronounce, and his chin was as well. His dark brown eyes looked as if they were calculating as they looked over the map-imbued tapestry that laid upon the surface of the slate table. The man's face revealed that his age was around his mid-twenties. His short-nailed long fingers moved over the map as he explained the future plans of the group that was gathered.

"The Dark Avatar's betrayal has surprisingly played into our favor, as most of the world leaders' attention is now focused on our southern cell," the man, who was obviously in charge, declared. "We now will now be able to perform Operation: Extinguish with more maneuverability, if we were to deploy the men from our _northern_ cell."

"Grand Lotus, won't they be under more alert after the southern cell was just discovered?" one of the robed men asked.

"Not if we act quickly, which is acceptable, as the supermoon is almost upon us," the Grand Lotus replied, slightly annoyed by the robed man's hesitation and obvious fear.

"But Bau, we were planning on the southern cell's assistance," another one of the men pointed out.

The Grand Lotus gave a devious smirk as he overlooked the western region of the map.

"They were only there for overkill, and to send an image, we are the Red Lotus, we don't need images, the operation will be a success either way," the Grand Lotus explained. "Then we will be ready to unleash Chaos. Speaking of which, how is the serum coming along, Master Alchemist?"

The Grand Lotus turned towards one of the robed men. The man who was looked upon lowered his head to hide his fearful face.

"The serum is still under development, but our research into it should be complete within the month," the Master Alchemist replied with a trembling, old-sounding voice. "On the other hand, while our northern cell's expedition into the spirit world has helped greatly with the acquisition of the needed ingredients, we will need a second expedition into the Fog of Lost Souls, and I am uncertain if their currently available sentries could return from such a perilous journey."

The Grand Lotus grimaced. They were so close. He could almost reach it. The Grand Lotus sighed.

"We'll have to make some necessary sacrifices then."

* * *

Tahni awoke to find himself still in his little cell on the Southern Water Tribe Fleet flagship. He felt seasick. He sat up on his cot, holding his right hand to his forehead.

"You were always so easily nauseated," a voice stated.

"Get out of my head, Vaatu," Tahni murmured quietly.

"Don't speak to me out loud, silly boy, speak to me mentally," Vaatu insisted. "I can read your narrative thoughts."

"That's… kind of… creepy," Tahni stated.

"Just do it," Vaatu sighed.

 _Fine,_ Tahni thought.

"Now you're learning," Vaatu replied, his tone noticeably less aggressive.

 _What do you want?_ Tahni asked mentally.

"No need to rush now, you're going to be in here for quite a while yet," Vaatu replied, his voice possessing a slightly mocking overtone.

Tahni narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"I can assist in your escape," Vaatu offered.

Tahni's nostrils flared.

 _I am not going kill these people just because they're afraid of_ _ **you**_ , Tahni answered.

"Who said anything about killing? I only intend for you to hold them down with bloodbending," Vaatu defended.

This idea was almost equally offensive to Tahni.

 _Isn't there anyway to escape_ _**without**_ _using bloodbending, or killing?_

There was an awkward silence.

"No," Vaatu finally answered.

Only a single candle gave light to the constantly rocking cell. Tahni couldn't take much more of this, he wanted to escape, but to bloodbend? And it wasn't like he trusted Vaatu all the sudden.

"It's bloodbending, or killing, and trust me, you'll have a less intense pursuit on your back if you only use bloodbending to restrain them," Vaatu continued, explaining his reasoning.

 _Trust you?_ Tahni mentally scoffed. _Last time I tried to restrain someone with bloodbending, you took over my body and made me kill them._

"Only because I didn't have a way to knock them unconscious," Vaatu defended.

Tahni took a deep breath through his nostrils. When he breathed back out, the air that his nose emitted made a visible vapor.

 _Fine, but_ _ **no**_ _killing,_ Tahni conceded.

"Agreed. Now are you ready to hear me out?" Vaatu asked.

 _I guess…_

"Good. Now, they are going to try and take you off this ship at some point using a small craft, and that is when we escape."

 _How?_

"They'll probably escort you with a few guards, and once you are far enough from this ship, you use your bloodbending to force the crew of the smaller craft to deliver you away," Vaatu continued.

 _I can't just control them forever._

"I know. After a while, you'll simply bloodbend them overboard."

 _In the middle of the sea? They could die._

"The main ship will be watching the whole thing unfold, they'll be rescued in minutes."

 _But if they're watching how will I-_

"You know how to waterbend up a myst right? It's the sea! Just go crazy while you drive away."

 _Well then, I guess you've had time to think this one out_.

"Compared to escaping the Tree of Time, this will be easy," Vaatu assured Tahni.

A moment of silence passed between them. While it felt like an hour to Tahni, it was possible a mere dozen minutes. He laid back down on his uncomfortable cot, and laid on his right side.

"Why are you so afraid of bloodbending or killing?" Vaatu finally asked.

Tahni shrugged.

 _I don't know, I guess I'm just tired of being thought of as some evil creature_ , Tahni admitted.

Vaatu replied, "ah, you're fearful of the legacy you're going to leave behind."

Tahni looked skeptically at the wall in front of him, as he couldn't see Vaatu physically.

"The kind legacy you leave behind is completely up to you. Will it be one of mercy, or vengeance? Peace, or war? Only you can decide this. Your past life knew this, and at least he left behind _some_ kind of legacy."

 _Well, I inherited a pretty cruddy legacy from him, didn't I?_

"How so?" Vaatu inquired.

 _I am being punished for the crimes of a past life, and I'm being blamed for a village massacre._

"The village massacre is actually kinda your fault, Tahni. After all, you were the one who _led_ the Red Lotus to that village in the first place."

 _Well, aren't you making me feel better,_ Tahni replied, conveying sass the best he could in his mind.

"However, I wouldn't really call what you did in a past life a crime as much as a sacrifice," Vaatu stated.

Tahni was puzzled.

 _And why is that?_

Vaatu wasn't quick to answer.

"It's late, you better attempt to get _some_ sleep," Vaatu declared, obviously trying to change the subject.

Tahni frankly didn't care enough to argue with Vaatu, neither did he have the mere mental energy to do so either. He soon found himself asleep.


	7. Fading Light

Tahni stared at the dark, wooden ceiling. The candle was almost completely used. The rocking motion of the vessel had diminished-they were no longer sailing on rough tides. Tahni was too tired to map out the currents in his head, and figure out where he was. All he could do was simply stare at the planks above his head. Occasionally, Tahni would steal a quick glance at the candle, as its wax melted ever closer to the bottom.

The rest of the vessel's lights had gone out at this point of the night, only the candle in Tahni's cell remained lit, and expelling the sacred-seeming light. The wooden planks creaked as the air inside the ship gradually grew warmer. There were no windows in the room, only wooden and metal walls. The little color the walls had diminished as the light faded.

Tahni continued to peak at the candle occasionally. The first time he peaked, it was half an inch tall, the second half of that. On and on the process went. Tahni would continue to check on the remaining mass of the candle in always decreasing intervals of time. He felt as if the candle was an hourglass-whose only purpose was to count down to something, to beckon something's arrival. Tahni felt like he was wasting time somehow, only looking at the receding light instead of making it worthwhile. He wasn't afraid of the dark. In fact, he had grown up in it for the most part. He couldn't wrap his head around why he felt like he was wasting time. Why was he so panicked?

When the candle finally died out, and the light had diminished fully, there was no arrival. There was no event that the candle had beckoned, only a familiar darkness. Tahni waited there, in the dark. Even as his life changed drastically, that sole item of existence never changed. He waited there, in the dark, as he had for most of his life.

* * *

Tahni awoke to find faces staring down at him. The faces of his capturers. He slowly sat up from his cot. It was warmer than it was the last time Tahni remembered.

"You're being transferred," one of the two soldiers stated.

"To where?" Tahni asked, half awake.

The two soldiers looked to each other.

Finally, the other replied, "can't say. Not allowed, and not knowing."

Tahni shrugged.

"Fair enough."

Tahni got onto his feet. The heat was killing him. Tahni started to remove the coat he was wearing, only to have one of the guards grab his arms and handcuff them.

"Really?" Tahni sighed, annoyed.

"Sorry, but we're kind of in a rush," the soldier handcuffing him explained.

Tahni rolled his eyes and got to his feet. The two soldiers led him from his cell-one soldier in front, the other behind him.

The doorway out of a room always seems smaller when one is half awake, and Tahni was no exception to this paradox. His tired eyes begged him to return to their closed state. The rest of Tahni's body didn't argue, as they had adapted over the years to immediately prepare for a day of work. Tahni tried to rub his tired eyes, but the handcuffs reminded him that he could not. At that moment, that was the worst thing anyone had burdened him with in his entire life.

The two soldiers escorted him down the hallway and out another door. The light was blinding to Tahni as he was led outside. He closed his eyes and looked away. It was only after a few moments that Tahni's eyes were able to adjust.

The sound of a running motor drew Tahni's attention. They were at the middle of the right side of the ship already. The sound came from beneath them.

It was a small speedboat. White with black markings. Driven by people in robes that Tahni had been trained to recognize instantly.

The speedboat was being operated by the White Lotus.

Tahni's mind snapped to full attention. The plan of escape rushed back to him.

"Just go along with it until I tell you," Vaatu's voice stated.

 _This is the White Lotus,_ Tahni mentally replied as he was led on a ramp down the speedboat. _They're not going to make this as easy._

"Relax," Vaatu ordered.

Tahni quietly groaned to himself.

The two soldiers walked back up the ramp, and pulled the ramp up after them. Tahni was forced to sit down on the side by unseen hands behind him.

Tahni shifted his glance over his right shoulder, spotting the young man holding him in place. The man was noticeably trying to not hold Tahni too hard, in fear of hurting him as if he was a small child.

Tahni looked away, at the larger ship. It was getting further and further away.

After a while, Vaatu decided it was far enough away.

"Now," Vaatu ordered.

Tahni obeyed, psionically bloodbending everyone on the small craft. He stood up, unsteady at first. He started to focus as hard as he could.

The young man on his right slowly removed a pair of keys from his pocket.

The young man slowly put the key in the latch on Tahni's handcuffs.

Unknown to Tahni at the time, the elderly woman steering the speed boat was slowly beginning to overcome his influence.

Tahni felt the pressure around his wrists release. The cling of the metal handcuffs hitting the floor was heard by all on the craft. Tahni looked back over at the young man, whose face showed nothing but pure, untainted horror. Tahni gritted his teeth as the taxing act of bloodbending started to wear him out.

It was then that he heard the swooshing water come at him.

A tendril of water smacked him in the chest. He flew back, hitting the metal back of the boat, and almost flying over the side.

Slightly dazed, Tahni looked up to see that the White Lotus sentries had regained full control of their bodies. The face of the young man no longer showed terror, but rage.

"Shit," both Tahni and Vaatu said in unison as the two sentries, excluding the one steering, stood up and faced him.

Tahni bent over backwards and pulled a head-sized sphere of water from the ocean behind him. He threw the sphere at the young man, who was closest.

The young man didn't react quick enough, and his fire-fueled block was futile. The young man flew over the side of the boat, and disappeared behind them.

 _Two more,_ Tahni mentally stated to himself.

Next closest was a young woman on his left, who sent out a band of metal from a compartment that was hidden beneath her right sleeve.

Tahni barely dodged the metal band in time, rolling to his right. When he rose back up from his knee, he also raised a tendril of water from the right side of the boat, which was behind him. The tendril smacked into the face of the young woman, and she was sent overboard.

Tahni looked to his right, as the driver of the speed boat brought up large tendril from behind Tahni. The water hit Tahni square in the back, and it pinned him to the floor of the vessel. The woman froze the water, momentarily trapping Tahni.

She then started to steer the boat into a left turn, probably heading back for help, and to rescue her squad from the water.

Tahni acted almost by instinct. His palms were pinned to the floor alongside him, but not his fingers. He focused on the water under the boat, and crunched his fingers into a fist. Some of the ice underneath the boat froze and locked onto the boat, sending it into a wild counterclockwise spin. The boat's motor shut off from the stress, and the metal pieces grinded together. The sudden change in inertia was just enough to give Tahni the ability to crack the ice pinning him. His back smacked into the right side of the boat-the edge of a seat to the middle of his back.

Tahni groaned in pain. It didn't seem serious, but it still stung like hell.

Tahni glared at the woman steering the speed boat, and got back on his feet. He reached out with his hand, and began to bloodbend her.

She rose from the seat, and hung in midair. It was then that Tahni violently tossed her into the ocean on his right like a ragdoll.

He dashed to the wheel, and sat in the chair. The boat's motor wouldn't restart. He looked over to his right to see that the woman had frozen some ice beneath her, and was in a fighting stance.

Tahni sprang from the seat and onto the floor just as she swung a tendril of water-ice from behind him. The ice shattered the windshield, and shards of both glass and ice pelted Tahni. He got back up to his feet to raise a wall of ice in front of him. He then pushed it over to collide with the ice beneath her feet.

Try as she may to keep her stance, she slid right back into the water.

Tahni glanced at the wheel. The boat wasn't going to start, he had to ditch it. He reached out to the water around him, and a myst began to form. He funneled most of his energy into it.

When the myst was good enough, Tahni _finally_ removed his bulky coat, and dived straight into the water on the left side of the boat.

He waterbended a jet of water behind him to push him along, and prayed that he was going in the direction of land.


	8. Rising Tides

**Sorry, once again, for the long wait. The next additions might take a while as well, due to me releasing a four chapter finale to this fanfic. Thank you for your always-present patience. I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.**

* * *

Tahni flew through the water for hours, coming up every twenty-or-so seconds for air. It was only due to his accession for breath that he was able to avoid crashing into the land that he saw ahead of him. He decided to swim the final thirty feet to avoid smashing his head when he arrived. Tahni crawled onto the wet earth and rolled onto his back. He stared at the bright, blue sky, slowly regaining his breath. He hadn't swam before, being raised in an underground compound, so he was sloppy, and exerted an excessive amount of energy in his attempt to get ashore.

He laid for minutes, feeling the wet grass tickle the back of his sweat-soaked neck.

 _Wait_ , Tahni wondered. _Grass? Why is there grass if I'm right next to the ocean?_

Tahni sat up, and found that he was not truly at the shoreline. He was on top of a hill. All around him, there were tropical trees sticking up out of the water, their lower halves fully submerged in the ocean's water.

It had flooded, but how? By look of how high the water had risen, it had to have risen nearly fifteen feet.

If Tahni wasn't exhausted, he would have been in shock by how high the water has risen, but all he could focus on was the despicable fact that he had to swim in the near future.

His eyes scanned the flooded landscape around him, he could see the tops of a few buildings fourty-or-so feet ahead, revealing that there used to be a village or town here.

The buildings were bright gray stone, with red and orange roofs and ornamentals. The use of red in roofs told him where he was in the Fire Nation, but how far in? If he was at the true shoreline, and the ocean was not higher than usual, he would at least be able to narrow down where in the Fire Nation he was.

Realizing he was still wet, Tahni stood up in his soaked clothing. He focused on the water clinging to his body and clothing, and bended it off of him. Unfortunately, the sudden removal of the cool water made Tahni realize how warm it was. His lower body quickly began to overheat, due to Tahni wearing two layers of pants. He quickly removed his boots, then the warm layer of pants. He put the boots back on, despite how hot they made his feet feel. Tahni wasn't going to carry around a pair of pants, so he rolled the discarded pair up into a ball, and tossed them into the water. He watched the article of clothing sink deeper into the invisible void that laid beneath.

 _So… What now?_ Tahni asked himself.

He was hesitant to go to towards the buildings. If any of them were still occupied, he would be spotted. Tahni was obviously not up for being captured again.

After considering his options for a moment, he realized that only one of them was logical: go to the buildings. He had no food, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to acquire some with the flooded terrain. He also needed to get out of his pathetic, and torn, crimson and black robes.

Tahni dived back into the water and swam in the direction of buildings. Part of him was annoyed that he was wet once more. On the bright side, though, Tahni was able to have more motion with his lower body now that he had discarded the second pair of pants. When he approached one of the buildings, he looked for a way to get in. He didn't want to dive down and go through the front door, as he'd have to swim up through two submerged levels of water. He couldn't waterbend to the roof, as he wouldn't be able to move his arms and legs accordingly when he was barely keeping his head above the water anyways. Tahni slowly started to swim around the building, looking at it from different angles. After swimming around to its backside, Tahni decided that building was unable to be entered. He swam to the next building, which was fifteen-or-so feet away. This building looked more accessible, with an outside balcony only four feet above the water. Tahni figured he could try to waterbend himself up a few feet, only as much as to reach the rim of the balcony. He gave it a try, sinking a couple feet under, only rise four more feet afterwards. He quickly grabbed the rim of the balcony with his right hand, his grip nearly slipping due to his wet hand. When he started to fall back down, the strain arrived in his arm, nearly tearing him back into the water. Tahni somehow kept his grip, and raised up his other hand and grabbed the rim. He didn't have much upper body strength, so he knew that lifting himself over was going to be difficult. Tahni bared his teeth as he tried to pulled himself up with all his strength.

He failed.

Tahni fell back down into the water, and quickly panicked. His arms were tired, and he could barely keep afloat.

 _Darn it_ , Tahni thought. _If only I could bend myself up… there…_

Tahni had an idea, and at this rate, it was his only chance if he wanted to avoid drowning. He focused on the water inside his own body, and began to bend it, holding it up. It felt awful, like someone was bloodbending him. Tahni raised himself up and over the top of the balcony, and dropped himself down onto the cement floor of it. Had he just bloodbended _himself_?

"About time you got up here," Vaatu's voice nagged. "If we had died by _drowning_ , I would have made your future lives a living Hell."

 _Well maybe, if I had a little help-_ Tahni replied, being cut off by the sight of a man coming onto the balcony and looking down at him.

The man was obviously native to this region-his skin was slightly pale, like most people coming from the Fire Nation. His age ranged from his late sixties to his early seventies, but he had few signs of aging on his face, despite his hair being a dark gray, which was down to his neck, and unkempt. His cheekbones were unusually pronounce. He wore civilian clothing: a plain black shirt, and pants that were close to being the same shade as his hair. The man was hunched over Tahni, and crouched down, as to be closer to eye level with him.

"And who might you be?" the man asked.

* * *

Korra, Mako, and Bolin were on their way back to the Fire Nation capital when Bolin received the news over radio that the Dark Avatar had escaped.

"What now?" Bolin asked the person on the other side of the radio.

"The Dark Avatar escaped while he was being transported off the _Zhu Li_ by the White Lotus," the man repeated.

Bolin looked over his shoulder and yelled, "KORRA! MAKO! CAPTAIN GUY SAYS THAT KID ESCAPED!"

Korra and Mako rushed in, nearly colliding with each other when they came through the doorway. Mako ran up beside Bolin, and snatched the receiver from him.

"The Dark Avatar escaped?" Mako asked, unsure if he had heard Bolin right.

"For the _third_ time, the Dark Avatar escaped from the White Lotus while he was being transferred," the captain answered, obviously annoyed.

"When did this happen?" Mako inquired.

"A few hours ago," the captain replied. "We're unsure of where he went, due to him fleeing while submerged, a couple miles from the Zhu Li."

Korra walked beside Bolin's left, and asked the captain, "how did he get away from the White Lotus? He wasn't that violent or dangerous when we captured him."

"The White Lotus sentries are telling us that the Dark Avatar bloodbended."

Korra froze.

 _Bloodbending_? The kid didn't seem like that was in his character. Perhaps he wasn't as innocent or even moral as she had suspected.

"Are you sure? He didn't try to bloodbend _us_ ," Mako asked.

"All three of the White Lotus sentries confirm that he bloodbended."

Korra and Mako stood silently, taking in the unexpected news. Bolin wasn't as fazed.

"So… Are we allowed to dock at the Fire Nation capital yet? Or do we need to go look for him?" Bolin asked.

* * *

Tahni sat up against the wall with the man beside him as they ate a bowl of noodles.

"So you're the only one living here after the flooding reached here?" Tahni asked between mouthfuls of noodles.

"Yup, everyone left the second the water was within view of the entrance to the village," the man answered.

"And when did the flooding start?"

The man stopped eating his noodles and put his chopsticks down in the bowl.

"The flooding has been going on for about ten years, boy! Where in the world could you have come from where you didn't know that the ocean level has been rising. Even by looking up at the moon, you would've noticed that it's getting bigger," the man questioned.

Tahni sighed.

"Let's just say… my upbringing was not the most… privileged," Tahni answered slowly.

"That's the most barfed up example of unprivileged my ears have ever heard. You weren't 'privileged' enough to look at the frick'in night sky?"

Tahni sighed.

"Nope."

The man picked his chopsticks back up, and resumed eating.

"I'll be damned," he muttered.

After they had finished eating, the man took out a flashlight and led Tahni down to the lower floor. There were no windows on the floor below the one with the balcony, so the water hadn't risen up there yet. The walls were covered with shelves of boots, bows and arrows, spears, and other hunting goods. There were racks of clothing everywhere. The building obviously used to be a clothing store.

"I doubt I'll be selling any more clothes or equiptment for while, for _obvious_ reasons, so I guess it would hurt to let you pick out a new set of clothes, as yours are evidently torn and… _smelly_ ," the man admitted. "Sadly, the only clothing floor that isn't flooded yet is the hunting goods. Sorry about that."

Here Tahni was, taking clothes from a man that he didn't even know the name of.

"By the way, what's your name?" Tahni asked.

"Poe Rha," the man asked. "My family has lived in this area for as long as we trace back. What's your name?"

"Tahni."

"No last name?"

"Don't know it," Tahni admitted.

"Wow, you _are_ unprivileged," Poe Rha replied, handing Tahni the flashlight.

He walked back up the steps, leaving Tahni alone on the floor with the inventory of hunting goods. It took Tahni nearly two hours to look through all of the goods, but he finally found a new outfit. He put on a lightweight, black t-shirt and dark gray cargo pants. He replaced his thin, and comfortable socks with a smooth, waterproof pair. He decided on a pair of tight boots, that were made of synthetic and waterproof dark brown leather. He also put on a pair of fingerless brown leather gloves, that archers would wear. As he would deal with water a lot, he decided to get some tan goggles, that looked like the kind snow skiers would wear. He placed them over his forehead. Lastly, he picked out a black and crimson leather trench coat. He decided to put on a tan belt over it, so it didn't get in the way.

Tahni felt like a new man. When we walked back up to the level with Poe Rha, the man just stared at Tahni and grimaced.

"I left you, a teenage _boy_ , alone in a clothing section for two hours, and you picked out more new clothing than a teenage _girl_."

"Sorry, should I put some stuff back?" Tahni asked, feeling guilty.

"Nah, it suits you," Poe Rha replied, content with Tahni's selection. "But you might want to do something about your hair. It doesn't go with your outfit."

At first, Tahni was surprised that Poe Rha, who's hair was unkempt, was judging his, but when Tahni saw himself in a wall-hanging mirror, he realized that he was right-his black topknot was out of character for his getup. He walked out to the balcony, waterbended up a sharp blade of ice, and cut the topknot clean off.

Tahni watched the bundle of hair fall into the water, and sink ever-deeper in it.


	9. Before the Storm

**I planned to release this chapter with the last three, as a finale package, but I finished it sooner than expected. I dislike letting chapter sit unsubmitted, so I decided to simply post it early. The final three chapters will be published at the same time. Also, reviews are appreciated, as I want to know how well you all are liking the Fanfic so far. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter and all to come.**

* * *

Tahni and Poe Rha sat on the roof, their legs dangling over the edge as they looked into the rising ocean. The day was calm, but the people on the radio gave the warning of harsh rain later that night. When Tahni looked closer at the sky, he could notice a few pockets of dark gray clouds hiding above the soft white ones.

"Why did you decide to stay, when everyone else left?" Tahni asked.

Poe Rha looked up into the sky, as if he was wondering that himself.

"To be honest, I don't know why I decided to stay. I guess it's just that I've lived in this village for my entire life. Whenever I'd start packing to evacuate with the rest of the village, I felt like I was leaving someone behind. This is my home, has been my family's home for a long… long time," Poe Rha offered as a reply.

Tahni guessed that he could understand Poe Rha a little, but still struggled to truly sympathize with him. He couldn't grasp why someone would be so attached to a location as much as Poe Rha. Perhaps it was because Tahni never had much of a home, and where he lived for most of his life didn't mean much to him. It wasn't a home to him, it was a prison. Tahni started to contemplate in his own mind why he felt like it had been a prison. Obviously, he was shut off from the outside world, without any hope of venturing out. What he had heard about the common people from his caretakers provided a paradox for his understanding of it. They said that the common people could venture into the outside world, but decided to cut themselves off from it, and stay in the safety of their warm houses.

 _Perhaps_ , Tahni thought, _people only desire and appreciate what they can't or don't have_.

"Way to be depressing," Vaatu sighed. "Seriously, I'm supposed to be the spirit of _darkness_ , and _I'm_ being bummed out."

 _It's not my fault you're the spirit of darkness_ , Tahni replied in his mind.

"It's not mine either," Vaatu replied, deeply annoyed by Tahni's comment.

 _What do you mean by_ -

Poe Rha, unknowingly, interrupted with, "this store, this… _place_ … is all I've ever really had. If I were younger, like you, I'd probably be able to let go and move forward. When you get older, you realize you don't have the time left to start a new life, so you try to cling to the one you already have."

Tahni only heard the second half of Poe Rha's confession, but he heard enough to grasp what Poe Rha was saying.

"I guess I can understand you, when you put it like that," Tahni replied.

Poe Rha took a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh. Tahni could tell that Poe Rha felt pity for himself, thinking that he was old and weak for holding onto his home. On the other hand, Tahni envied the old man, for Tahni didn't have anything to hold on _to_.

"So what are you planning to do?" Poe Rha asked out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" Tahni replied, taking off guard.

Poe Rha rephrased the question. "What your plans after the ocean level goes back to normal?"

"The ocean is going to recede?" Tahni asked, knowing close to _nothing_ about the current situation worldwide.

Poe Rha looked at Tahni with a face of surprise, and answered, "Of course it is! Those big scientists in the capital and over in the United Republic of Nations did all the math and such. They say that this supermoon thing happens once every million years, and that it will go back to normal within a few _days_ , as where it took a decade for the ocean to get to where it is. The ocean is going to stop rising within this week, and we'll be back to normal sea-level by the end of this month."

"Well that's a relief," Tahni offered as a response.

"We can simply sit back and wait for this whole situation to end," Poe Rha sighed, a slight smile of relief and content on his face.

 _Wait_? Tahni thought. _I can't just stay here, the Avatar, White Lotus, Southern Water Tribe…_ _ **a lot of people**_ … _are looking for me. If I stay here I'll be found._

"Then lie and say that you're going to the Fire Nation capital," Vaatu interjected. "Do I need to spell it out for you? Go to the Fire Nation capital, blend in with the refugees, and just live out the rest of you life rebuilding in this nation."

 _To be honest, Vaatu, I don't know if you're in my brain, or my brain entirely._

"I'm attached to your spirit, not in your mind, but I can see your point," Vaatu replied.

Tahni turned to Poe Rha, and took a deep breath, and began to think up a lie.

But before he could start talking, Poe Rha asked, "you're going to the Fire Nation capital too, aren't you?"

Tahni sighed, letting out all of the air he had built up, and answered, "yes, I have get there."

"You trying to meet up with family? I thought you were from the Southern Water Tribe," Poe Rha questioned, as politely as possible.

"I… have no family," Tahni admitted.

Poe Rha grimaced and replied, "then why not stay? I could use some help getting this store back up and running once the water recedes. It's not luxury, but it could at least be a home. It's not like I have any family round here anymore to take over the shop once I'm gone, either. It could be a nice life."

Tahni felt both gratitude and rage at this man. How _dare_ he offer him a home, a life, a future, in just one go when Tahni knew that there no chance he would be able to hide here?

"I'm sorry, but I have to keep moving," Tahni stated calmly as he could.

Poe Rha sighed.

"Alright, I guess I could give you one of the two boats that are at the side of building," Poe Rha offered.

Tahni was confused.

"What boats?"

Poe Rha stood up and led Tahni to the other side of the building. He pointed over the edge, straight down at the street. At the bottom of the water were two wooden boats.

"I decided to have a couple boats for when it flooded. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to keep raising the point at which I tied them to the building, so they sunk to the bottom once the water got inside."

"How am I supposed to use one of those boats?" Tahni asked, perplexed.

Poe Rha looked at Tahni, and smirked.

"You're a waterbender, aren't you?"

* * *

The Grand Lotus stared out the large, glass window. The room was dimly lit, like the rest of the main complex. In some places, the walls were metal panels, and in others they were chiseled stone. Behind the glass was the ocean, and in that ocean, was a docked Submarine Carrier.

Funny thing was, while the sole Submarine Carrier was being constructed near the shoreline of what once was the Earth Kingdom, the water was rising. The state that occupied the land hoped that they could complete it before the water disrupted the construction. Their hopes were in vain. They abandoned the nearly completed Submarine Carrier, along with the rest of the facility.

The Red Lotus had masters of every bending art, even air. When the state workers left, the Red Lotus took over the facility. They reinforced the glass windows, completed the Submarine Carrier, and made the site their new head of operations. Some of the high-ranking members of the Red Lotus didn't want to move their headquarters to a former military shipyard facility, but the Grand Lotus used history to his advantage. The facility incorporated an ancient underground temple into its construction, and so, the Grand Lotus was able to convince the Red Lotus leaders to move here for the "sake of reclaiming sacred history."

The Red Lotus brought all of their equipment here, including their sole squadron of Zerofire-Class monoplanes. The monoplanes were acquired via a similar situation as the Submarine Carrier.

The Submarine Carrier could hold a squadron of these Zerofire-Class monoplanes in its dorsal hanger, which made up most of the vessel. It would rise to the surface, and spew out the squadron in rapid speed, leaving its opponents unable to adequately prepare for battle. It was perfect for Operation: Extinguish.

The Grand Lotus smiled as the Submarine Carrier slowly turned away from its docking clamps, and took off. He saw the shadows casted upon the seafloor by the dozen-or-so speed boats equipped with miniaturized spirit cannons. Moments later he saw the shadows of two airships, which were modified similarly, follow them. The mustered force would reach the Fire Nation capital by midnight, and rid the world of the monarchist leaders. Then, Chaos would be able to flourish once more.

* * *

Mako slowed the ship down to a halt as they approached a flooded village.

"I'm not sure how deep the water is, but I certain we can't go much further inland before the water gets too shallow," Mako told Korra, who was staring out the front window of the bridge.

"Do you think we'll be able to find him?" Korra asked.

"I don't know," Mako admitted.

"Building ho!" Bolin yelled to them.

"What?" Mako asked.

"There are buildings up ahead instead of land," Bolin answered. "Wait, there are some hills… and trees… and debris… and a person… I'll stop talking."

"Wait... what?!" Korra called back. "There's a person out there?"

"Yeah! On top of the square concrete building!" Bolin yelled back.

Mako squinted his eyes. It was getting dark, and harder to see. To make it worse, a light rain had started, and was only growing in intensity as time went on.

"I see him," he stated as he turned the ship to move alongside it.

Korra walked out onto the deck, and stood beside Bolin.

"Hello!? Person!? Can you seeeeeee meeeee? Can you heeeaaarrr meeee?" Bolin called out, waving his arms in the air.

"YES. I SEE YOU. Unfortunately, I can hear you as well," the man replied, extremely annoyed.

"Do you require assistance?" Korra called out. "Are you stranded?"

"Not at all, young woman. I have all the food I need and a boat to escape if the water gets too high. I had two, but some young man took one," the man replied.

"What young man?" Korra immediately asked.

"His name was Tahni, didn't have a last name, which I found strange-"

"Where did he go?" Korra interrupted.

"The Fire Nation capital, where else?"

Korra ran back to the bridge, and pushed Mako aside to have access to the wheel.

"What are you doing?" Mako exclaimed, nearly falling over.

"Tahni. Fire Nation capital. Boat. No last name," Korra quickly answered as she spun the wheel around.

The man was terribly confused as he watched the ship nearly slow down, then speed up as it turned away.

As the ship quickly sailed away from him, he could faintly hear someone yell happily, " yay! We're going to get to see Opal!"

The man decided it as for the best that he was all alone.


	10. Supermoon

Tahni raised small waves behind him, making good time as he speeded towards what obviously was the capital. He never would have found the way in the pouring rain if it wasn't for the dozens of seafaring vessels heading towards the capital.

The capital was just as Poe Rha said it would be. It was both beautiful and sad at the same time. He could see the lights shining bright at the top of the extinct volcano, but all light was extinct and void of life at the front gate and wall. He waterbended small waves beside him, guiding his boat through the magnificent dark gate. Once he got through the gate, he was stunned by the sheer amount of people. Hundreds, if not thousands, were departing from the docking vessels. They ran in the six-inch-high water covering the plaza, and hurried towards the secondary gate, which guarded the district between the plaza and the inclines up to the peak of the volcano, and in it, the Royal Caldera District.

Poe Rha said that he heard accounts over the radio that most of population of the entire Fire Nation was being harbored in the Royal Caldera District. He said they were huddled in there, in street, alleyways, and buildings, all awaiting the receding of the ocean. Once Tahni got into that crowd he'd never be found again.

When Tahni's boat hit the edge of the Royal Plaza's floor, he jumped from the small craft and began to walk through the water towards the secondary gate, unaware that he was being watched.

* * *

Korra had spotted the Dark Avatar easily once he had landed at the Royal Plaza, due to him being the only one walking, and not sprinting for their lives.

He wore different clothing than when she had previously seen him, and his topknot was severed.

Almost instantly, Korra's mind drifted to thoughts of when she had cut her topknot off seventeen years prior. It had been when she had abandoned her life as the Avatar, after being poisoned by the Red Lotus. The Red Lotus that the Dark Avatar was obviously a part of. Why else would he have bloodbended those people and escaped? He participated in the slaughter of a village, he lied to them about it, and bloodbended.

Part of Korra knew that she was only telling herself these things, so she wouldn't feel guilty about what she was about to do.

She followed the Dark Avatar while remaining in a crowd of refugees. The Dark Avatar didn't seem rushed, or scared. He seemed like he was about to do something he had dreamed of. Korra could only imagine what he, a killer, would do when he was surrounded by a majority of the Fire Nation's people.

Korra quickly glanced at the Fire Nation airship hovering above the plaza. Mako, Bolin and Tenzin were on that airship, and ready to provide assistance the second the Dark Avatar got away from the crowd. They barely had enough time to contact what was operational of the Fire Nation military before they got here.

It helped that Tenzin and most of the airbenders were here as well. The airbenders had been assisting with the overcrowding situation for almost a year now. Almost everyone they knew in the Air Nation was here helping, even Opal and Bolin's five year old son Sanbu was here. Despite the amount of airbenders here, Tenzin's children weren't among them, as they were assisting in Republic City.

It eased Korra a little, knowing that her former mentor and current friend was up there, ready to assist. She looked back at the Dark Avatar, and continued to tail him.

* * *

Tahni walked through the gate alongside a crowd, ignorant of the airship above him. The city that lay before him was all but abandoned. The water wasn't as deep here, as there were a few stairs at the secondary gate. The crowd was starting to dissipate, forming lines heading directly for the path to the Royal Caldera District.

Tahni found himself all alone in the heavy rain. He had unknowingly slowed his pace to take in the sights. It was now the sounds that concerned him. The footsteps in the water _slowed_ behind him. Tahni focused on the noise of those footsteps, and quickened his pace.

The footsteps came faster, matching Tahni's.

Tahni slowed down once again.

The footsteps did as well.

Tahni kept walking, his mind paralyzed with fear. Was he being followed? Was it simply people walking behind him, trying to avoid bumping into him? After several moments, Tahni couldn't take it anymore, and slowed his pace until he was at a complete stop. Slowly, he turned around to find the Avatar staring at him.

The Avatar's face hosted a look determination and a sliver of anger.

Tahni grimaced.

"Give yourself up, Dark Avatar," the Avatar demanded with a cold, demanding voice.

 _Dark Avatar?_ Tahni thought.

She didn't see him as a person, and she wasn't going to treat him as such. Tahni wasn't going to go back to living in a prison for choices that weren't his own.

When Tahni didn't reply, the Avatar took a fighting stance. Tahni slowly took one of his own.

The Avatar attacked first, sending a violent blast of fire directly at Tahni, who was able raise a wall of ice from the toe-deep water around them. He performed a backflip, working with the water in his own body, and bended the ice to reliquify. The restored water flung at the Avatar, who bended the water to part away from her at the sides. Tahni took off running to his left, and raced down the flooded street. He felt something grab at his right foot, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground. He looked at his foot, to see that the Avatar had frozen the water around it. He reliquified it, and threw it in the form of an ice spear at the Avatar, who was gaining on him. Tahni then continued to flee down the street.

A spotlight from the airship above him started to follow him. Tahni heard sharp snaps in the air alongside his right. He looked over his right shoulder to see a bearded airbender flying alongside him with his wingsuit. Tahni bared his teeth as the airbender banked left and tried to cut Tahni off. Tahni reached into the water in his body, and lifted himself over the airbender. He had to tuck and roll when he landed, but he was quickly able to resume sprinting. Tahni could see the stone street cracking in front of him. Tahni was barely able to react in time when a wall of earth rose in front of him. Tahni once again bloodbended himself and gave himself enough inertia to jump onto the wall of a building on his left. He then sprang from that wall up higher onto the wall of the building across the street, and he did so back and forth until he was on a flat stone roof. He continued running despite the exhaustion he was feeling. The flapping of fabric betrayed the position of the airbender to Tahni, as the airbender flew higher to give a continued chase.

Tahni spun around, bending the rain falling around him into small shards, which he threw at the airbender's wings. The wings were pocketed full of holes, and the airbender fell onto the same roof as Tahni. The airbender spun, airbending a gushing wind at Tahni, who was thrown onto his back.

The airbender continued sending the blast of air, pinning Tahni on his back. Tahni could barely lift his head up far enough to see the Avatar rising up on a jet of fire. The Avatar landed, and started to walk up to the airbender.

Tahni clenched his teeth as hard as he could. He begged for help from the only person he could imagine helping him.

 _Vaatu. Please..._

* * *

Korra walked up beside Tenzin, and stared at the Dark Avatar. He was helpless. Korra could see the desperation on his face, his eyes didn't convey anger, but horror. Then his eyes conveyed something else altogether. She could see his eyes snap from horror to determination. The bottoms of his boots moved to where they were flat on the roof, his knees moving accordingly.

Tenzin intensified his sustained blast of air, but to no avail.

The Dark Avatar's eyes started to glow a dim crimson. His body slowly rose into the standing position, despite the horrifically strong wind being sent his way. The Dark Avatar's hair only made Korra and Tenzin more shocked. It was being blown back, to the point where it was almost straight, despite the Dark Avatar simply standing there. All at once, Korra understood how he was doing this.

"He's bloodbending _himself_!" Korra shouted to Tenzin over the loud sound of the airbended wind.

Korra started to send a blast of air herself, sending the concrete railing behind the Dark Avatar off into the darkness as if it were paper.

The Dark Avatar's right hand began to rise, ever slowly.

Korra tried to intensify the wind, but his hand _kept rising_ to the point where its palm faced them. Suddenly, the air around them began to freeze. Frost began to form on their bodies. He was freezing the water in the air around them. Before Korra knew it, she and Tenzin couldn't move, as they were frozen in ice, and at the Dark Avatar's mercy.

The Dark Avatar walked over to them and looked Korra straight in the eye.

"Leave. Me. Alone," he spoke, his voice demanding, but also frightened.

The Dark Avatar looked up at the spotlight glaring down at him from the airship.

He raised his palm to it, and the air around it froze as well, trapping it in an irregular shape of ice. He looked back at Korra one last time, then turned his back to her and walked off the side of the building, bloodbending his body to slow his decent to a soft drop.

Korra could feel herself growing angry. She wasn't going to let him get away. The water around her slowly began to melt, while her fury did anything but. Once she was free, she raced after the Dark Avatar.

"Korra! Wait!" Tenzin called out, but to no avail.

Korra had already leaped off the side of the building to give further chase to the Dark Avatar.

She firebended jets of fire from her hand to slow her descent. Korra could see the Dark Avatar running as fast as he could away from her. She ran as fast as _she_ could in his direction, slowly gaining on him. Korra chased him for minutes, until the Dark Avatar made a wrong turn and found himself in a dead-end alley. He looked at the concrete wall, and turned around to find Korra looking at him.

Despair was evident in his eyes, but Korra didn't care in the slightest. She violently waterbended the Dark Avatar to the wall, then onto the ground.

"Please, no," he begged as she froze the water around his hands and feet, trapping him on his knees.

Korra knew what she had to do. She had to sever his connection to water, then kill him.

She walked up to his trapped form, and placed her hands on his heart and forehead. She searched for the gateway in his body, where his chi was flooded with the spirit of the element. Once she found it, she started to bend the gateway smaller and smaller. Just as it was about to close she heard a voice. It was his.

"No."

She felt her influence shatter, and his take over. She poured as much energy as she could into the struggle, but he was able to hold it in a standstill. Their spirits were in perfect balance.

The ice around the Dark Avatar's hands and feet began to melt, and he began to rise once more unto his feet.

The Dark Avatar waterbended her into the wall behind him, and pinned her there with ice. He reached into her gateways and momentarily plugged them, blocking the flow of her chi for a few minutes. He did all this without looking at her.

"You coward!" Korra declared, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"I'm the coward?" he asked. "You've hunted me down, Avatar, and for _what_? A choice I didn't make! Do you honestly believe that I _wanted_ to be born as the Dark Avatar? Do you think I wear that title with pride or something? All it has brought me my entire life is misery and death. It brought death to my parents. It brought me to having my entire life so far being raised as a tool for the Red Lotus. And yet, with having nothing left to be afraid of losing, I'm the coward. Avatar, _you're the coward_ , because you're too afraid to consider that I'm not your enemy; that you were wrong."

After a moment, Korra asked, "are you going to kill me, Tahni?"

Tahni turned around and looked at her.

"No," he replied. "I'm leaving you with a choice I never had. Let me live, or watch yourself die at your own hands."

And with that, Tahni left her.

* * *

Tahni walked back to the Royal Plaza gate. His muscles were grateful for him not running, but also infuriated that he was still moving at all. He just wanted this day to be over. When Tahni got to the gate, alarms started to sound, sirens began to blare and shouting began to arise.

"Crap," Tahni said to himself as he raced down the steps to the Royal Plaza.

They weren't going to let him go just like that. What had he expected? That they were just going to drop it after what just went down in those streets? No, they were coming for him.

When Tahni set his first step on the Royal Plaza floor, he looked ahead of him at the harbor and realized he had misunderstood.

The Red Lotus were here.


	11. A New Alliance

Korra hung there, pinned the wall, contemplating what had just transpired.

 _What have I done_? Korra asked herself.

In her rage and ignorance, had she condemned Tahni, who already experienced so much suffering in his life, to live his life alone forever? She should of helped him, not hunted him. Heck, she could of trained him. Together, as two Avatars, as a _team_ , they could of done so much good for the world. Yet she had hunted him as if he were her enemy.

Sirens and alarms started to go off in the distance.

 _They're going after Tahni_ , Korra thought. _If I can get free, maybe there's still time…_

Try as she may, her connection to the elements was gone for the moment. Korra knew that she had failed.

All of the sudden, the sounds of explosions filled her ears.

They were under attack.

Several figures walked around the corner, and into the alley.

"Look what we have here! The Avatar!" one of the figures laughed.

Their robes gave them away as Red Lotus sentries. They walked up to her pinned and vulnerable form. One, obviously a waterbender, melted the ice with waterbending, then pinned her to the floor with bloodbending.

"Grand Lotus Gen'dai Bau is going to be thrilled when he learns that we killed her," one of the other sentries exclaimed.

The bloodbending sentry crouched down beside her and whispered into her ear, "you're going to be reborn into a world that even _you_ can't save."

Korra closed her eyes, knowing this was the end.

She heard them raised a spear of ice from the water she was laying in. Then she heard another movement of water. The sentries all fell around her, deceased. She felt herself gain control again as the bloodbender died, then another person start to bend her body. This time, the bloodbending didn't constrict her, but made her feel lighter, and more complete. She had regained her connection to the elements, but how? Korra heard footsteps walk over to her. Once she had enough strength, she lifted herself up onto her knees and looked over her shoulder. She didn't know who she expected her savior to be. When her eyes focused on the figure leaning over her, she realized it was Tahni, with an outstretched hand.

She took it.

Tahni lifted her to her feet, and turned around to face the next wave of Red Lotus sentries as they charged.

It was time to fight.

* * *

Mako and Bolin watched as a squadron of Zerofire-Class monoplanes launched from the Submarine Carrier.

"Firebenders! Prepare for combat!" Mako ordered.

The Fire Nation soldiers got into position on the edges of the airship.

"FIRE EVERY CANNON WE HAVE!" Mako yelled at them.

They firebended into the barrels of the cannons, and plumes of flame shot towards the incoming squadron.

Most of the Zerofires dodged the blasts, but two were hit and their wreckage fell into the city. The surviving ten Zerofires started to head towards the airship once again. Mako knew that the airship couldn't be saved.

"ABANDON SHIP! GO GO GO!" Mako screamed.

All around Mako and Bolin, Fire Nation soldiers jumped for it, deploying their parachutes immediately. Mako didn't have a parachute, and looked to Bolin, who didn't have one either.

"Come on, bro," Mako urged as he grabbed Bolin and plunged them over the side.

The Zerofires fired on the airship above them, making it explode almost instantly. Mako held onto Bolin as hard as he could with his left arm, while firebending out a jet from his right hand in an attempt to slow their descent.

It wasn't enough to slow their descent to point of survivability.

Mako figured this was a crappy way to go out. All of the sudden, a couple airbenders caught them, and carried them onto one of the roofs below. Mako, Bolin, and the two airbenders ducked for cover as the airship plunged into the abandoned district. When Mako and Bolin looked back up after the crash, they discovered that their saviors were Tenzin and Bumi.

"Thanks for the save!" Bolin stated as he got back onto his feet.

"Anytime," Bumi smirked.

"Those Zerofires are going to wipe us out if we can't deal with them," Mako told Tenzin.

Tenzin replied, "I wouldn't worry about those pesky Zerofires."

"And why is that-"

Just as he said it, a squadron of Fire Nation Zerofires flew over, and began to engage the Red Lotus squadron in a dogfight.

* * *

Tahni raised two spikes of ice from the ground, pointing them at a 45 degree angle towards his enemies. He then grabbed two of them with bloodbending and pulled them into the spikes. There were dozens more still charging forward, unfazed, and unafraid to die. One of the incoming Red Lotus sentries sent a sweeping blade of fire at Tahni, who sent a tendril of water to clash with it, defusing both moves. Korra sent a burst of air at the Red Lotus sentry, who was thrown back a dozen feet.

An earthbending Red Lotus sentry stomped on the ground with his right foot, making a boulder rise into the air. He then spun around counterclockwise, and kicked it at Korra and Tahni with the ball of his left foot. Korra outstretched her right arm and simply caught it in her palm, then crushed it into small pebbles. She launched them at the sentry like bullets, and they tore him apart. While Korra wasn't looking, a waterbending Red Lotus sentry created a spear of ice, and threw it at her. Tahni caught the spear with his waterbending, spun it around, threw it back, and it impaled its creator.

When an airbending Red Lotus sentry began to remove the air from Tahni's lungs, he fell over onto his knees. Korra took notice and sent a continuous blast of fire at the airbender, turning him to ash. Tahni felt the air flow back into his lungs and returned to his feet just in time to see the airbender's crispy corpse plop to the ground. He gave Korra a look that displayed gratitude, then returned his gaze to the enemies that were still coming.

Tahni knew that this was taking too long. If they kept being held up here, they wouldn't be able to help Korra's friends. It was time to cause casualties.

He focused on the rain falling around him. He froze the drops of water into shards of ice, then sent them like a unending barrage of bullets at the Red Lotus sentries, cutting them down in mere seconds. Tahni fell to a kneeling position once the deed was done, as the task was exhausting both physically and spiritually.

When Korra looked down at him Tahni said, "just give me a second. When you tried to sever my connection to water, it kind of crippled me. I'm not as strong with it as I was before."

"Sorry about that, will you be okay?" Korra asked, her voice conveying guilt and worry.

"I'll be fine. My chi is just…. _unstable_."

Tahni looked up at the sky, the two Red Lotus airships were beginning to bombard the defenses at the Royal Plaza with their spirit cannons. He pointed at them, leading Korra's gaze.

"We're going to need to take those out if we're going to have any chance in stopping this thing," Tahni stated.

"What thing? Why are the Red Lotus attacking?" Korra asked, confused.

Tahni looked at Korra, with a look that said _you're not seeing the obvious_.

"They're here to kill the entire Royal Family. The Fire Nation is still a monarchy, so if the Royal Family goes down-"

"The entire nation falls apart," Korra finished, grasping the situation.

"We need to stop those airships before they get further inland," Tahni stated.

Korra gave him a puzzled look.

"And how are we going to that? You're in no condition to bloodbend yourself up there," Korra replied.

Tahni smirked and answered, "you're going to need to carry me."

Korra sighed.

* * *

Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, and Bumi were in the streets of the district, fighting their way to the Royal Plaza.

"Where is Korra?" Mako questioned as he sent a bolt of lightning at a Red Lotus sentry.

"We're don't know!" Bumi answered.

Bolin pointed towards the sky.

"I think I found Korra!" Bolin exclaimed.

Mako looked up, spotting Korra carrying Tahni as she used firebending to jet her way up to one of the Red Lotus airships.

"Is Tahni helping?" Mako asked, surprised.

"Who's Tahni?" Bumi asked as he used airbending to diffuse a fire blast.

"The Dark Avatar," Bolin replied.

"Today is one for the history books," Tenzin stated as he sent a tendril of air at the enemy.

"You can say that again," Bumi said. "Tenzin tore his clothes for the first time since he was four!"

"I TOLD YOU! The Dark Avatar did that!" Tenzin barked back, annoyed.

* * *

When Korra got to the top of one of the airships, she immediately dropped Tahni, who rolled onto his feet.

"Thanks for the lift," Tahni said.

They immediately went to work. Tahni waterbended the rain into the cracks and seams of the metal, soaking it in before freezing it and tearing it out with terrific force, sending metal fragments everywhere. Korra simply metalbended the metal frame apart, peeling it open as if it were a banana. They continued until the airship started to emit smoke, and noticeably tilt.

"Time move on!" Tahni yelled as he ran past Korra.

He jumped off the edge, and caught himself with bloodbending. He awkwardly carried himself over onto the top of next one. Korra flew over on a gust of wind. All around them, the battle in the air was chaotic as it drew to a close. Zerofires fired upon Zerofires, and debris was flying everywhere. Tahni and Korra began to tear into the airship's frame when the last Zerofire collided with the bridge of the airship, destroying all control, and sending it into a rapid fall. Out of nowhere, piece of metal debris hit Korra is the side of the head, and she started to plunge to the surface unconscious. Tahni leaped off the edge of the falling airship towards Korra, bloodbending her body to bring her closer. Once she was within arm's reach, he grabbed her and pulled her close. He started to bloodbend himself, slowing down their descent. It was exhausting, but Tahni forced his already fragile bending to the limit. When they were within four feet from the ground, Tahni let go. They both fell onto the flooded ground, but only Tahni was awake to feel the bruising fall and the sudden splash of blistering cold water.

"I'm starting to understand why bloodbending was declared illegal. It _**sucks**_ ," Tahni moaned to himself.

They had landed at the edge of the Royal Plaza. Tahni looked out into the harbor, to see a dozen speed boats slowly moving towards him. Their gunners aimed their spirit cannons at Korra, who was several feet away from Tahni. Without thinking, Tahni threw himself in front of the beams of spiritual energy as they flew towards Korra, and focused solely on absorbing them, unknowingly energybending.

The loud noise of the spirit cannons awoke Korra. She sat up in the water, to find Tahni's twitching body lying in front of her. She quickly stood up and stepped over Tahni body, as to protect him from their enemies.

Tahni could barely hear as he lay there.

 _Is this how I die_? Tahni asked Vaatu.

"No," Vaatu answered, no doubt in his tone. "This isn't the day for sacrifices. The world doesn't need a martyr. We don't need a symbol, we need hope. We need a victory. We need to rise above darkness."

With that, Tahni could feel Vaatu channeling all of the spiritual energy that was running rampant in his body towards four parts of his body. He could feel the gateways that were his connection to the elements burst open with unprecedented force.

Korra prepared herself for a final stand against the Red Lotus fleet, until she realized that the spirit cannons were starting to point up. A light began to emit from behind her.

Korra looked over her should to see Tahni's form rising in the air, glowing ever-brighter. His eyes didn't glow red, but his body glowed a pure white light. Tahni continued to rise until he was fifty feet in the air.

The speed boats started to back up, so they could aim their cannons at Tahni. It would only take them a few moments to reload their spirit cannons and end this ascension. Rocks began to rise towards Tahni, and form a belt around him. As did smoke and fire from the wreckage around them. Lastly, a sphere of glowing water, formed from the falling rain, took shape around his levitating figure.

The spirit cannons fired.

This time, Tahni didn't absorb the spiritual energy, but returned it.

Tahni bended the beams as so they would converge into a single beam. They bended around him as if they were water, he reached out with his hand, moving it slowly from left to right below him, sending the beam into a path that violently disintegrated the speed boats. Tahni looked ahead at the Submarine Carrier. He reached out the ocean, and make it part away from the vessel. A whirlpool formed around the Submarine Carrier, and the water formed a tunnel around it, letting the vessel fall to the ocean floor. Tahni bended large spikes, the size of the vessel itself, to stab through its frame from all sides. The craft exploded in a violent explosions. Tahni released the oceans, letting the water reclaim it.

It was over.

Tahni slowly began to descend, and the white light started to fade away from his body. When he was ten feet off the ground and five feet in front of Korra, he completely shut down and fell into the water.


	12. The Path Forward

When Tahni regained consciousness, he found himself in a white bed with a bright eyed little boy staring down at him. The boy's bright green eyes were almost the entirety of what Tahni could see. When the boy stopped leaning over him, Tahni could see more of the little boy. His hair was dark brown, short and in an upwards going curve.

"Um… Hi…?" Tahni greeted awkwardly.

The boy looked to the door on the other side of the room and yelled, "he's awake!"

Moments later, the door opened to reveal a woman who was obviously his mother.

"Sanbu! Don't yell in a hospital! People are trying to sleep!" she scolded, her voice being just as loud as Sanbu's was.

Sanbu grimaced, worried that he was in trouble.

The mother looked behind her, then looked back at Sanbu.

"Come on, I think Korra wants to speak with him," she stated, ushering Sanbu out of the room.

In came, Korra, not as tired and exhausted as Tahni was but instead fully awake.

"I see you've met Sanbu," Korra grinned at Tahni as she walked in.

"Yeah, he's… energetic," Tahni offered as a response.

"Yup, just like Bolin at that I age I hear," Korra laughed.

Tahni's face slowly turned serious as Korra sat down in the chair on Tahni's right. Tahni started to sit up in the bed, only find his muscles in great pain.

"Careful now, you've… overexerted yourself. Also, you've torn a bunch of your muscles and all of your chi-related body functions are all wacked up," Korra urged.

"No, kidding," Tahni groaned. "What happened?"

Korra looked at the ground and sighed.

"Well, after you lit up like a christmas tree, we wanted to make sure that you weren't going to die or something," Korra explained.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by 'lit up like a christmas tree'?"

Korra gave another sigh.

"You… kind of glowed as you went berserk on the entirety of the remaining Red Lotus forces. _That_ happening after you took a barrage of spirit cannons to the majority of your body. Also, you apparently have a connection to all of the elements now."

"That's… something," Tahni replied as he raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me about it," Korra sighed.

An awkward silence initiated between the two of them. This continued for about half of a minute, or perhaps even a minute entirely.

Finally, Tahni asked, "so... What now?"

Korra shrugged.

"I honestly don't know," she admitted.

"I've noticed that I'm not chained like last time," Tahni offered. "That's a plus."

"Yeah, I was able to convince everybody that you weren't in a good enough condition to be dangerous right now," Korra explained. "Not that it took them much convincing, they're really in an awkward state where they don't know whether or not to trust you."

"Did the light show freak them out?" Tahni asked.

"A little. To be honest, most of us expected you to explode when you got high up," Korra admitted.

"High up?" Tahni repeated, confused.

"While you were... 'lighting up like a christmas tree'... you were also levitating forty to fifty feet above the ground," Korra explained further. "Then proceeded to shoot out a beam of spiritual energy from your hands, blowing up the Red Lotus forces. And then to the Submarine Carrier, you-"

"I think I get the picture," Tahni interrupted. "Terrifying display of power with the risk of explosions on both sides."  
"That… kind of sums it all up," Korra agreed, slowly nodding.

"Once I recover, I suppose I'm going to a prison or something," Tahni sighed.

Korra shook her head.

"No, I was _somehow_ able to convince the White Lotus to not lock you away on a distant island," Korra corrected.

Instead of feeling gracious, Tahni felt surprised.

"Wait a second, they have a prison on a distant island?" Tahni asked.

"Surprisingly, the White Lotus currently has more prison-related compounds than prisoners," Korra informed him.

"Thanks… I guess…?" Tahni replied, unsure of what to make of that information.

"Oh don't think you're off the hook yet. They're not going to just let you wander off into the world," Korra stated. "They're only letting you stay out of captivity if I keep a close eye on you."

Tahni shrugged, feeling pain as a result.

"That's fair, I suppose," he groaned as he shifted his body on the bed. "Save you once and I have to keep saving you for the rest of my life. Serves me right."

Tahni wasn't bitter at this arrangement, just amused.

"Speaking of which. Why did you come back?" Korra asked.

"I don't know," Tahni admitted, uncertainty obvious in his voice. "I guess as a person, I didn't want your blood on my hands."

"Oh, I thought that you cared about me," Korra replied, shocked by the honesty.

"I care about you as a fellow human being, Korra, not as friend. At least… not yet," Tahni corrected. "You have to admit, we didn't really get off on a good start last time we met."

Korra looked to the ceiling and gave a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I suppose I _did try_ to strip you of your bending, then kill you."

Tahni's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"Damn, Korra, and I thought I was the one being brutal last night," Tahni exclaimed, surprise evident in his voice.

Korra looked back at him and raised an eyebrow.

"That wasn't last night, Tahni. You've been out cold for about four days now," she corrected.

"Wait, what?!" Tahni responded.

"You were so exhausted that after that… _episode_ you blacked out."

"I figured that that was only last night, since I'm still wearing my clothes," Tahni replied.

"Nah, all of the workers at the hospital were simply just too freaked out to even touch you. They couldn't even _fathom_ putting you into a hospital gown," Korra explained.

Tahni tilted his head and responded with, "that's a fair enough point."

"That, and we were unsure of when you'd wake up. Could you _imagine?_ Waking up to a bunch of strangers taking off all of your clothes, now that would be a reason to turn on us" Korra snickered.

Tahni's face turned pale.

"Thanks for _that_ image."

"Anytime, Tahni," Korra replied, trying to stop smirking at the thought.

Vaatu stated, "poor you, Tahni. I've had bare witness to every time you've bathed. We all have to live with horrifying thoughts and images in our minds."

Tahni glarred straight ahead of him, much to the confusion of Korra.

"What is it?" Korra asked, unsure if she had said something.

Tahni's glare dropped and he looked back at Korra.

"Oh, nothing. Vaatu just said something that wasn't the most pleasant," Tahni explained.

Korra grimaced.

"You can hear him, huh?" Korra asked sincerely.

"Yeah, but it's not as bad as you'd expect. Despite being the spirit of darkness and all, I can't actually say he's the _worst_ person I've ever talked to," Tahni replied. "Can't you hear Raava?"

"I can, she's just not that talkative," Korra confirmed. "I can only imagine what you have to live with, though."

Tahni shrugged, "believe it or not, Vaatu was possibly the only thing keeping me from turning into a brainwashed sociopath like the Red Lotus wanted all those years."

Korra's eyebrows were raised as a result of that bit of information.

"How about that? The spirit of chaos kept your mind from being scrambled to beat hell," Korra sighed, slightly amazed.

"What did she just call me?!" Vaatu sneered, obviously annoyed by Korra's comment.

"Anyways, I guess I should let you rest. But be warned, Tahni, the second you've recovered enough, the White Lotus is going to force me to train you," Korra advised as she got up from her chair walked towards the door.

"You know, it's funny," Tahni replied.

Korra looked back at him as she was about to go through the door.

"What is?"

"You've started calling me Tahni."

Korra stood there and thought for a second.

"I guess I have."

And with that concluding statement, she left him alone with Vaatu.

"They're totally going to use you as a weapon," Vaatu stated.

"Why do you think that? Isn't it possible that someone is being sincere and genuinely moral for once?" Tahni asked out loud.

"Oh, sweet _naive_ Tahni, I would tell you go kill yourself, but I would _still_ be forced to live you with the rest of eternity," Vaatu replied.

Tahni stopped and thought about that for a moment.

Tahni finally responded with "I guess there's a bright side to everything, then."

He could only smirk as he heard Vaatu growl in annoyment.

* * *

 **Thank you for all of your support. There will be a sequel, but I am unsure and cannot confirm the time of release. I hoped you enjoyed this Fanfic, and until next time, farewell.**


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